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

Minnesota Defense Receives $1.2 Million Contract for HUMVEE Replacement

St. Paul, MN, 06/19/07 - Minnesota Defense has received an order from RACAL Acoustics (www.racalacoustics.com) for work on the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle intercom system. The MRAP is the new fortified combat vehicle for all of the U.S. armed services to replace the current “Humvee” vehicles. The Humvees currently in use are susceptible to road-side bombs as a result of their relatively thin hulls and low-to-the ground chassis.

The MRAP vehicle (pictured here) has a Vshaped hull high off the ground that assists in
deflecting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) common in the Iraq theater of operations. Minnesota Defense is building two components for a communications cable assembly that plugs into the vehicle intercom system.

RACAL representatives from the company’s United Kingdom headquarters visited Minnesota Defense in early June to secure an initial rapid delivery contract for the connectors by the end of the month, as well as an additional follow on order. During the visit the Minnesota Defense engineering team learned details of the MRAP system, which has the highest priority “DX” rating the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) can designate for a program. There are only 15 other programs (among thousands for DoD) currently listed with this level of work which is specifically approved by the President as the highest of priority for national defense.

During RACAL’s visit, the Vice President of the company’s North American Operations shared an example of why Minnesota Defense’s field-tested connectors were the first choice among available vendors. Early this year a Marine, using an intercom system containing Minnesota Defense components, was able to maintain full voice communications while a Harrier jet aircraft was landing on a pad just yards away. The high level of clarity received was unheard of in previous systems, and did not yet have the full RACAL noise cancellation system that will be incorporated into the MRAP version.

In addition to the initial contract for $1.2 million, substantial follow on orders are likely, especially given the MRAP program’s high priority for DoD, its rapid introduction to the field in the months ahead, and the likelihood that the modernized intercom system will be back-fitted into older vehicle systems.

Minnesota Defense has continued to expand its subcontract work for DoD, building on its earlier successes with the Army’s Land Warrior and Future Force Warrior programs. The company’s R&D division is also expanding, with leading edge wire and cable projects for all of the services, including the Komodo flexible wire program, and the OrbWeaver program that is exploring nanotechnology for fatigue resistant wire in airborne applications.

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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.