Arete to Engineer Airborne Mine Detection Tactical System Under $93M Navy Contract

Arete Associates, a Northridge, California-based defense company, has secured a potential seven-year, $92.9 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity requirements contract from the U.S. Navy for engineering services in support of the initial increment of a coastal battlefield reconnaissance and analysis technology.

Aside from AN/DVS-1 COBRA Block I system services, the contractor will also provide provisioned item orders under the cost-plus-fixed fee and firm-fixed-price IDIQ, the Department of Defense said Monday.

The Navy uses the COBRA system to detect and localize minefields and obstacles before conducting an amphibious assault. The airborne platform is designed for unmanned aerial tactical reconnaissance operations and is intended to be included in the mine countermeasures mission package of littoral combat ships.

Arete will conduct work in Arizona, Florida and California through September 2028, if all options are exercised. The contract has a base value of $13.3 million.

The Panama City Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center launched a competitive solicitation for the contract to continue work conducted under a previous Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase III effort.

According to a Navy document posted in December 2018, Arete is the contractor for the COBRA system, which achieved initial operational capability in July 2017.

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