Teledyne wins new contract for Stryker sensor suite upgrades

The Army has awarded Teledyne FLIR Defense a new, four-year contract to continue upgrading the mounted reconnaissance system on the service's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle (NBCRV), the company announced April 9.

The NBCRV, also known as the M1135 variant of the Stryker Family of Vehicles, hosts a slew of sensors to monitor and provide feedback to soldiers on nuclear, biological and chemical levels on the battlefield.

This latest $74.2 million contract adds to a five-year $168.3 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract Teledyne won in November for low-rate initial production of the upgraded NBCRV sensor suite, with the Army ordering its first delivery at $7.5 million.

“By continuing to enhance sensor capabilities on NBCRV, we can help ensure future warriors will be ready to detect and respond effectively to a wide range of deadly agents,” Dr. JihFen Lei, president of Teledyne FLIR Defense, said in a statement. “We’re proud to expand our support on this vital U.S. Army program and to know that our drone, remote sensing, and integrated solutions are playing a major role to improve standoff and situational awareness.”

As lead integrator, Teledyne will use the latest contract to fund three initiatives: a new, “expanded” sensor suite design, the delivery of six prototypes to the Army and “government testing,” according to the release.

Some of the upgrades to the NBRCV sensor suite include integrating Teledyne’s R80D SkyRaider drone, equipped with the vender’s MUVE B330, a sensor added to unmanned aerial systems for continuous biological threat monitoring. The company has also created a command-and-control system to centralize the information collected from the NBCRV’s devices and sensors, according to the release.

The new NBCRV will also be the first of many Army vehicles to integrate the Vehicle Integrated Platform Enhanced Radiation (VIPER) system, a radiation-detection capability designed to alert crews and commanders of nuclear exposure inside the vehicle and in the battlefield environment they’re driving through. The Army put out a market survey for the capability April 9.

NBCRV upgrade work will go on through 2028 at Teledyne facilities in Stillwater, OK, Elkridge, MD and Tucson, AZ.