Orbit Int'l gets contract for U.S. military vehicle system

The Hauppauge-based defense electronics maker Orbit International Corp. will provide a 15-inch color display system for one of the U.S. military's key battlefield vehicles - the MRAP, or mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle, which is in wide use in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The color display screens will be used in a combat vehicle system that "has gained the confidence of a number of vehicle personnel that constantly operate under mission deployments in the harsh terrain of Iraq and Afghanistan," Dennis Sunshine, Orbit president and chief executive, said in a news release.

The display is to be part of a "cockpit-like technology" to turn MRAPs into multimedia hubs, letting soldiers control sensors, weapons and "blue-force tracking" systems from the safety of their armored vehicles. Blue-force systems help soldiers differentiate friendly and enemy forces.

Orbit, a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq, is making the vehicle display systems through its Quakertown, Pa., subsidiary Tulip Development Laboratory.

Tulip is a subcontractor for the primary contractor Synexxus Inc., of Arlington, Va., to manufacture and supply its color display for the Oberon V4 electronic keel system, for a period of five years, Orbit said in a Thursday news release.

Oberon was selected for deployment in the MRAP-All Terrain Vehicle made by the Oshkosh Corp. Tulip will provide two 15-inch screens for each of the Oshkosh ATVs.