Force Protection Inc. will build half of a new order of armored vehicles for Iraq’s army at its Ladson plant, working for a defense giant it has named as a competitor.
The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command on Tuesday awarded BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P. of York, Pennsylvania, a $180.5 million delivery order for 378 Iraqi Light Armored Vehicles, according to the Defense Department and a Force Protection filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The order is part of a firm-fixed-price contract worth $445.4 million, and the vehicles are to go to the Iraqi National Army, the filing said.
The design comes from Ladson. Under an agreement with BAE, Force Protection Industries, the company’s operating subsidiary, will license its Cougar vehicle to BAE as the basis for the Iraqi vehicle, the filing said. Force Protection will also act as BAE’s principal subcontractor, providing the workers and other resources to produce 50% of the vehicles in Ladson, and it will handle all of the after-sales service and support the Army contract requires.
Force Protection said it is still finalizing the detailed terms of the subcontract, which it estimates is worth about $55 million to the company.
The Cougar first launched in 2004, according to the annual report Force Protection filed in April. The 14-ton vehicle uses a V-shaped hull to deflect blast energy, and its standard American drive train lets it be serviced much like a commercial truck. The company said in that report it had produced about 50 Cougars, all deployed in Iraq, and was building capacity to make 20 or more a month.
The same report listed BAE Land Systems among the large multinational firms Force Protection competes against, along with Textron and General Dynamics.
The company’s Charleston roots go back to June 2002, when it bought Technical Solutions Group, a development-stage maker of blast-protected vehicles based in Charleston. It moved its headquarters to South Carolina in July 2003 and took the Force Protection name that August, according to the report.
Force Protection had more than 325 employees at the end of 2005 and occupies three buildings with more than 240,000 square feet in Ladson. Its 2005 net sales were $49.7 million. Its stock trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board under the symbol FRPT.OB.
