SAN DIEGO, 16 July 2013. U.S. Navy communications experts needed a contract manufacturer to assemble, test, and package the U.S. government's Communication Transponder Family of Systems (CT FoS). They found their solution from Design West Technologies Inc. in Tustin, Calif.
The Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific in San Diego awarded a $20.9 million contract to Design West Monday for production, assembly, testing, and packaging of CT FoS hardware, which consists of printed circuit board products, electronic components, and external enclosures. A circuit board with all components installed is called a communication transponder unit (CTU).
SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific is responsible for developing and building the CT FoS under the sponsorship from several government organizations.
The Navy is asking Design West to use state-of-the-art manufacturing processes for CT FoS assembly and test, and to use commercial best practices in project management and documentation, production tracking, RF and electrostatic discharge-sensitive (EDS) components handling, and board inspection.
Among the reasons that SPAWAR chose Design West for the job is for the company's expertise in surface mount technology (SMT) and EDS component handling, SMT reflow and wave soldering, ultrasonic welding, ball grid array assembly, printed circuit board fabrication, and automated component installation, Navy officials say.
The Navy is asking Design West to destroy all communications transponder circuit boards that fail any test and are not repairable by sawing them in half and returning the pieces to the Navy.
Among the circuit boards that Design West will assemble and test are the model-C motherboard, model-C RF board, model-C interface board, future packaging motherboard, future packaging RF board, and future packaging interface board.
Design West will do the work on this contract in Tustin, Calif., and should be finished by July 2018. For more information contact Design west Technologies online at www.dwtusa.com, or SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific at www.spawar.navy.mil.
