Force Protection awarded $46.6M deal

Force Protection Inc. received a Marine Corps contract worth $46.6 million to build and deliver the company’s Buffalo, a vehicle designed to search for and withstand blasts from roadside bombs, the company announced today.

The Buffalo seats six people and has a remote-mounted camera on an extendable arm that passengers can use to investigate roadside bombs as the vehicle patrols roadways in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The demand for Buffalo continues to be solid due to its effectiveness as the premier route-clearance vehicle available today,” Chief Operating Officer Randy Hutcherson said in an emailed statement. “Buffalos have saved untold numbers of lives over the last several years in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Force Protection will send the Buffalos to the U.S. government, which will then deliver them to coalition forces as part of the Foreign Military Sale contract, said Tommy Pruitt, senior communications director for the company.

All of the work will be performed in Ladson and is expected to be finished by Sept. 30.

Thursday’s contract comes on the heels of a March 30 contract award for maintenance on the Cougar vehicle. Force Protection was awarded $11.4 million for a 10-month contract renewal for 46 field service representatives, who will perform maintenance on the Cougar, another of its mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles. That work is being done in Afghanistan and Iraq and is to be completed by Dec. 31.