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HAUPPAUGE, N.Y: Orbit International Corp., an electronics manufacturer and software solutions provider, today announced that its Electronics Group has received a multi-year contract in excess of $1,000,000 from a major defense electronics prime contractor to support the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) upgrade and retrofit program. The design and delivery of the key panels for the Abrams Vehicle Turret will be completed at Tulip Development Laboratory, Inc (“Tulip””), Orbit's Quakertown facility. With this latest series of multi-year contract awards, Orbit will be providing an upgraded key panel for the Turret Networks Box (RxNB) as part of the M1A1 Product Improvement Program for the U.S. Department of Defense. Deliveries of the key panel will start in third quarter of 2007, and continue through the end of 2009.
Due to unique Marine Corps amphibious requirements, and the need for both supportability and interoperability between the Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, the two services agreed to jointly produce the MBT. Since replacing the aging fleet of M60 A1 Rise/Passive Tanks, the MBT is the state-of-the-art mobile armored tank, that is capable of engaging enemy forces regardless of any weather conditions, day or night, using its firepower, maneuverability and shock effect.
The MBT forms the backbone of the armed forces heavy armored mobile tanks supporting United States military, and several U.S. coalition allies as well. The primary mission of the Abrams Vehicle is to provide mobile firepower for armored formations of sufficient capability to successfully close and destroy any opposing armored fighting vehicle in the world, while protecting its crew in any conceivable combat environment. During Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, not a single Abrams crewman was lost in the conflicts.
Richard Hetherington, President and Chief Operating Officer of Tulip, commented, “The latest multi-year contract award for the MBT key panel started with a development design in 2001. Once we completed our initial order, follow-on production orders continued. As of today, our facility has shipped in excess of 5,000 M1A1 key panels to support the U.S. Army and Department of Defense. With an estimated 8,800 M1A1 Abrams vehicles currently available for combat use by the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and coalition forces, we believe that the Product Improvement Program will continue well beyond 2009.”
Dennis Sunshine, President and Chief Executive Officer of Orbit International Corp, stated, “The continued development of the M1A1 Abrams Vehicle key panel to support the Product Improvement Program will amount to significant cost savings to the customer, while providing Tulip with additional hardware and display opportunities on this program as well as potential follow-on requirements for modified configurations. Assuming the remaining M1A1 vehicles are retrofitted within the scope of the Product Improvement Program, our Company could potentially receive additional orders that could exceed $2,000,000.”
Orbit International Corp., through its Electronics Group, is involved in the manufacture of customized electronic components and subsystems for military and nonmilitary government applications through its production facilities in Hauppauge, New York and Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Its Power Group, through its Behlman Electronics, Inc. subsidiary, manufactures and sells high quality commercial power units, AC power sources, frequency converters, uninterruptible power supplies and associated analytical equipment. The Behlman military division designs, manufactures and sells power units and electronic products for measurement and display. For a more detailed discussion of the risks inherent in the Company's business, the reader is referred to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005 and its registration statement on Form S-3 containing a final prospectus dated January 11, 2006.
