Military chooses resolver motion-control devices from Kearfott to help keep tank guns on target

Oct. 28, 2014
WARREN, Mich., 28 Oct. 2014. U.S. military vetronics experts needed precision electronic motion-control devices to help keep the 120-millimeter main gun on the General Dynamics M1 Abrams main battle tank on target. They found their solution from Kearfott Corp. in Black Mountain, N.C.
WARREN, Mich., 28 Oct. 2014. U.S. military vetronics experts needed precision electronic motion-control devices to help keep the 120-millimeter main gun on the General Dynamics M1 Abrams main battle tank on target. They found their solution from Kearfott Corp. in Black Mountain, N.C.

Officials of the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Land in Warren, Mich., announced their intention last week to award a potential $2.5 million contract to Kearfott for as many as 470 resolver differential 4X gun trunnion motion-control devices for the M1 Abrams family of main battle tanks.

Resolvers are rotary electrical transformers that measure degrees of rotation. In this case they help enable the main gun on the Abrams tank to stay on target even if the tank is moving over rugged terrain. The resolver is a crucial enabling technology in the Abrams tank fire-control system.

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The upcoming contract to Kearfott will be awarded sole-source because the company is the only responsible source of the part that will satisfy military requirements, DLA officials say. Kearfott is a subsidiary of Astronautics Corp. of America.

The initial contract is worth $1.2 million for 235 resolvers, and the contract has options for 235 additional resolvers with an option value of $1.3 million.

The unique military-grade resolver differential 4X gun trunnion was developed, designed, built, and tested at Kearfott, which owns proprietary rights to the device's design, DLA officials say. The M1 tank's trunnion is a structure on which its main gun moves.

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Variations of the M1 tank have been in service since 1980. The system is the principal main battle tank of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, as well as the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Iraq.

For more information contact Kearfott Corp. online at www.kearfott.com or DLA Land-Warren at www.landandmaritime.dla.mil/offices/DLAWarren.

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