TOWCESTER, England, 13 March 2006. Radstone Embedded Computing in Towcester, England, won a $13 million contract extension from the Harris Corp. Government Communications Systems Division in Melbourne, Fla., to provide the PowerXtreme PPC7EP executive processor, Radstone officials announced March 13.
The Radstone PowerExtreme PPC7EP is a custom version of the company's PPC7D processor. The processors are part of an upgrade to the Universal Fire Control System for the Lockheed Martin High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Radstone also will provide a variant of the PPC7EP to Harris, which is under contract to Lockheed Martin for the HIMARS upgrade, which "is a program that places enormous demands on its computing infrastructure in terms of performance and reliability," says Peter Cavill, President of Radstone Embedded Computing.
Harris previously chose Radstone in 1999 to provide processors and mezzanine cards as part of a program to upgrade more than 900 Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) in service with the U.S. Army. The Army's HIMARS is the newest member of the MLRS family.
Developed originally by Lockheed Martin in 1996, HIMARS entered service in June 2005. Three prototype HIMARS launchers were used in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom. HIMARS is to engage and defeat artillery, air defense concentrations, trucks, light armor and personnel carriers, as well as support troop and supply concentrations. HIMARS is able to launch its weapons and move away from the area at high speed before enemy forces are able to locate the launch site.
For more information contact Radstone Embedded Computing online at www.radstone.com.
