US army enlists Smiths Detection

Smiths Detection, part of the UK's Smiths Group, recently won an $8m (£4.28m) US Department of Defence contract to design and test a prototype mobile weather forecasting system.

With an option for a second system, the maximum contract value is estimated to be $11.3m (£6.04m).

Its purpose will be to provide tactical meteorological support to the Marine Air Ground Task Force, through continuous observations, satellite imagery and forecasts.

The system is a modification of the existing Meteorological Mobile Facility Replacement, and will be smaller and more mobile.

Smiths is already supplying the

army with an upper atmospheric measuring system, the Meteorological Measuring Set-Profiler, used to increase the accuracy of field artillery.