(LANHAM, Md.) — McMurdo has been selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide support services for its next-generation search and rescue satellite-aided (SARSAT) systems.
The contract, which will cover NOAA MEOSAR (Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue) systems in Hawaii and Florida, has a contract ceiling value $8.2 million over five years with approximately $1.6 million expected for 2016.
“McMurdo is pleased to continue our strong partnership with NOAA and this new contract is further validation that together we will shape the future of the U.S. search-and-rescue industry in the years to come,” said Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of parent company Orolia.
NOAA, the government agency responsible for the U.S. SARSAT program, installed the world’s first operational MEOSAR system in Hawaii in 2011 and an additional MEOSAR installation in Florida in 2014. Both systems were designed, developed and installed by McMurdo. MEOSAR is the next-generation version of the Cospas-Sarsat international search and rescue satellite system that has helped to save over 40,000 lives since 1982.
“We have trusted McMurdo from the very beginning to provide the technologies, expertise and support that are critical to our MEOSAR search-and-rescue operations,” said Mickey Fitzmaurice, the U.S. NOAA SARSAT program’s lead satellite systems engineer. “The McMurdo MEOSAR systems are improving the location detection timeliness and accuracy resulting in faster search and rescue response times and even more lives saved."
For more information about McMurdo, visit the www.mcmurdogroup.com.
