Collins Aerospace lands $42 million U.S. Air Force contract

CEDAR RAPIDS — Collins Aerospace, Cedar Rapids’ largest employer, won a $42 million, 30-month U.S. Air Force contract to develop a so-called very low frequency, or VLF, receiver for its strategic mission capability.

The new product line will feature “the VLF receiver, which will be used to disseminate command and control orders and provide presidential direction to strategic forces,” the avionics company said on its website late last week.

The receiver will be “ruggedized specifically for extreme operational environments,” the website said.

“Collins has been providing its VLF terminals for decades, and this new equipment has been designed to meet rigorous future Air Force strategic requirements,” said John Sapp, Collins Aerospace’s Integrated Solutions vice president and general manager.

“Our new modern OpenVPX architecture” — allowing compatibility among different products by different vendors — “will provide them with expanded capability to ensure our war fighters are equipped to meet our nation’s greatest threats.”