Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Armed Service Committee, announced $25 million in federal funding for an Albuquerque company, Aquila, to boost military technology manufacturing in New Mexico. The funding, which was made available by the U.S. Army, will allow Aquila to produce 2,860 radiation kit readers and 282,000 dosimeters for the Army National Guard. These dosimeters are wrist-worn devices servicemembers use to measure ionizing radiation in order to detect exposure. Senator Heinrich led the effort to secure this federal investment, which will protect the health and safety of our uniformed military and help support and maintain local jobs in New Mexico. The Army has a shortfall of radiation reader kits, and the dosimeter technology that American servicemembers currently rely on use outdated 1960s Cold War era technology. These new dosimeters made by Aquila will relay information quickly and precisely in our military's modern network centric battlefield in order to keep them safe. Aquila will work with its New Mexico small business partners Delta Group Electronics, RMB Distributors, Toltec, and Phoenix West to produce the dosimeters. Aquila will begin its delivery of radiation kits this year with full delivery to be completed in 2017.
"I'm proud to advocate on behalf of this homegrown New Mexico company and help it make major contributions to protect American soldiers," said Sen. Heinrich. "This investment in modern radiation detection devices will ensure members of our military are using the best available technology when they risk their lives on the battlefield and will also help preserve high paying advanced manufacturing jobs here in New Mexico. I will continue to work on the Senate Armed Services Committee to ensure our men and women in uniform have the necessary and up-to-date equipment to keep them safe as they work at home and abroad to keep all of us safe."
"We'd like to thank Senator Heinrich and his staff for their efforts in facilitating the delivery of our state-of-the-art RadWatch dosimetry system to the U.S. Army National Guard service members," said Aquila President Judy Beckes Talcott. "At the same time, we are encouraged that this order strengthens the industrial base of Aquila and our partners in New Mexico."
