11 March 2021

USN awards Cobham Mission Systems contract for T-45C oxygen concentrator upgrade

by Pat Host

The US Navy (USN) on 22 December 2020 issued Cobham Mission Systems a USD8.3 million firm-fixed-price contract to upgrade the oxygen concentrator system on the service’s fleet of Boeing T-45C Goshawk jet trainers.

This order provides for the production and delivery of 196 GGU-25A oxygen concentrators, 80 spares, and associated production and technical data support, according to a Pentagon statement. This initial contract includes the first two lots of GGU-25A oxygen concentrators, a Cobham Mission Systems spokesperson said on 10 March. Work is expected to be completed by October 2023.

The Cobham Mission Systems GGU-25A oxygen system concentrator. The USN has awarded the company a contract to upgrade its T-45C fleet with the GGU-25A. (Cobham Mission Systems)

Cobham Mission Systems said that this contract was awarded on a sole-source basis. Recent advancements in concentrator technology developed and implemented by Cobham Mission Systems was recognised by the USN with a separate non-recurring engineering (NRE) contract to qualify the GGU-25A for the T-45C fleet.

The GGU-25A, an upgraded version of the legacy GGU-7 used on the T-45C, is designed to deliver the required amount of oxygen to pilots while also recording key operational parameters in real time. The data is useful in troubleshooting any possible incidence of unexplained physiological episodes during flight, Cobham Mission Systems said in a 9 March statement.

The GGU-25A leverages the same technology used in Cobham’ Surestream concentrator that was developed over the last decade with internal research and development (IRAD) funding. The Surestream is specifically designed for life-support systems compliant with MIL-STD-3050. In addition to improvements in the maintainability and reliability of the concentrator through mechanical design changes, new software and electronics designs have changed the performance and data-gathering capabilities for the Surestream concentrator.

The US Navy (USN) on 22 December 2020 issued Cobham Mission Systems a USD8.3 million firm-fixed-pric...

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