News
Press Release
For Immediate Release
12 June 2006
Contact Chip Laingen
Minnesota Defense Awarded Air Force Small Business Innovation Research Grant
St. Paul, MN, 06/12/06 -- Minnesota Defense, a division of Minnesota Wire & Cable Co., has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of the Air Force. This is the sixth Department of Defense (DoD) research and development grant awarded since the defense division was formed in 2003 – five have been Phase I and Phase II SBIRs, and one was a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) – totaling more than $2 million.
The Air Force SBIR grant is AF06-132, "Fatigue Resistant Wire for Airborne Applications." The project was proposed by the Air Force's materials directorate 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. Minnesota Defense will use the initial research grant funding to begin developing solutions. 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 BAAs. The highly competitive program 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.
The latest successful proposal maintains Minnesota Defense’s 42% capture rate for federal research solicitations well above the national average of 10%. Minnesota Defense has aggressively pursued the complex military market through a multi-track approach. The division has teamed with major service programs and prime contractors, including: the Army’s Land Warrior project, where the division helped to produce Soldier Interconnect 1.0™ which solved soldier-borne connector problems; the Spider interconnect for Alliant Techsystems' Alternative Land Mine system; and fiber optic cabling for United Defense's Advanced Gun System (AGS).
Minnesota Defense's five previous SBIR/BAA awards are: Smart Connector for the Air Force F-16 Falcon fighter jet for rapid, an imbedded fault detection in aging wiring systems (for which the company was awarded a Phase II contract as well); Pod Connector for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a system for rapidly and securely attaching mission modules to a ship’s deck that will supply power, and transfer electronic data, fluid and gas; the Rally Point Glove, an innovative, multifunctional Handwear Computer Input Device (HCID) that allows a soldier to interface his wearable computer through pressing various parts of his glove and by issuing quick, simple hand gestures; and Komodo, an Army Natick Soldier Center grant to develop flexible wire for future use in Soldier combat systems.
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Minnesota Defense is a division of Minnesota Wire & Cable Co. (MWCC), a vertically integrated custom manufacturer of wire and cable assemblies for the Instrumentation, Medical, Defense, and Telecommunications industries. Its 30,000-sq.-ft. headquarters is located in St. Paul, Minnesota, with another 27,000-sq-ft. facility located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. MWCC is ISO 13485:1996 certified and its capabilities include custom tooling, cable extrusion, engineering and design, as well as shielding and cabling.
Minnesota Wire & Cable Co. continues to expand its capabilities in the design-to-delivery environment and custom wire and cable assemblies. For more information on MWCC and its products and services, visit its web site at www.mnwire.com or call 1-800-258-6922. To connect with the Minnesota Defense division, call Tom Ashenbrenner at (651) 642-1800.