Alcoa Receives Five-year Contract with US Army

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) announced that it’s been awarded a five-year contract with the US Army that’s worth up to $50 million. The contract will involve R&D projects focused on developing “innovative, lightweighting solutions for ground combat vehicles.”
As quoted in the press release:

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) awarded Alcoa Defense a “Ground Vehicle Light-Weighting” contract to support efforts to accelerate technology research and development and provide engineering solutions for Department of Defense ground vehicles and intelligent ground systems.
Alcoa’s first “work directive,” or project funded under the contract, is an initiative to advance Alcoa-developed aluminum weld wire alloys. These alloys have already been proven to increase the strength of welded joints—typically the weakest point on a vehicle—as well as reduce corrosion of those welded joints on combat vehicles. Under potential future work directives, Alcoa will provide material research, development, engineering, testing, and evaluation efforts related to ground vehicle lightweighting. These research and development efforts will address various technologies associated with lightweighting such as aluminum forming technology, fastening and joining, modeling and simulation, armor development, material development, material fabrication, energy conservation, and coating and corrosion technology.

Eric Roegner, president of Alcoa Defense, commented:

This agreement with TARDEC builds on Alcoa Defense’s decades-long partnership with the U.S. Army to advance military ground vehicles. Alcoa’s lightweight solutions have improved troop protection while reducing vehicle weight and assembly time. We look forward to building on our successful track record to help develop the next generation combat vehicle.

Click here to read the full Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) press release.