FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Press Release Chip Laingen
Minnesota Wire & Cable Co. Phone: 651-642-1800
St. Paul, Minnesota

Minnesota Defense Awarded Air Force Small Business Innovation Research Grant

St. Paul, MN, 03/01/07 -- Minnesota Defense, a division of Minnesota Wire & Cable Co., has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of the Air Force.  This is the seventh Department of Defense (DoD) research and development grant awarded since the defense division was formed in 2003 – six have been Phase I and Phase II SBIRs, and one was a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) – totaling nearly $3 million.

The Air Force SBIR grant worth approximately $750,000 is AF06-132, "Fatigue Resistant Wire for Airborne Applications."  The project was proposed by the Air Force’s Materials Directorate at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to address the service’s need for fatigue resistant electrical wire technology for application in high vibration airborne environments.  The Air Force spends millions of dollars each year in repairing damaged wires and lost mission effectiveness, and risks aircrew safety due to the harsh environments which aircraft endure - especially over time. 

According to the company’s R&D Manager, Tom Kukowski, Phase I work (essentially a “proof of concept”) has been performed over the course of the past year.  The Phase II work, likely to begin in April, will use a multi-pronged approach that makes significant strides in addressing the Air Force’s aging wire problem.  Research will be directed at developing:  flexible wires for data carrying applications; flexible wire coatings for data carrying conductors, and conducting enhancers for connector termination and functional components of integrated wire systems; and “smart Wires,” consisting of nanocomposite coatings over traditional wire core primaries that could provide platform capability for enabling wire sensing attributes useful for prognostic health management.  The R&D Team will use technology already in progress with its Army SBIR program called "Komodo," as well as the teaming arrangements that exist with the University of Minnesota and other partners.

Minnesota Defense has been successful in pursuing Department of Defense (DoD) research and development (R&D) funding through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs).  The highly competitive programs includes 11 federal agencies and targets the innovation that resides with small companies.  In the case of DoD, SBIR helps solve critical military needs for the armed forces. 

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Minnesota Wire & Cable Co. (MWCC) is a vertically integrated, custom manufacturing and development house for wire, cable and interconnect assemblies to the Medical, Defense, Instrumentation and Telecommunications industries. MWCC is a market and R&D leader in mitigating tribo-electric effects, radio translucent wire, and innovative connections for wearable electronics, patient monitoring systems, leading-edge medical devices and extruded wire products. Minnesota Defense, the R&D and defense sales division executes high technology R&D, including projects such as Smart Connector for in-situ wire diagnostics and Komodo stretchy wire for body-borne vests and other applications. MWCC has a surgical products subsidiary, Minnesota Bramstedt Surgical, and a joint venture with Primordial, an in-house software development firm.

The 30,000 square foot headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota boasts a full R&D and test and measurement center (including and Electromagnetic Capabilities (EMC chamber for electronic compliance testing). Another high-volume, 30,000 square foot focused-cell production facility is located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. MWCC is ISO 9001: 2000 certified, ISO 13485: 2003 compliant, ROHS compliant, and is a MIL-STD and IPC-620 certified harness manufacturer.

Additional information on MWCC, its products and capabilities is available at www.mnwire.com or 1-800-258-6922.