BBN Technologies gets $74 million order

BBN Technologies, the Cambridge company that developed much of the early technology for the Internet, announced today that it has been awarded $74 million to provide more than 8,000 Boomerang Shooter Detection Systems to the US Army.

The Boomerang system immediately alerts US forces to the occurrence of hostile incoming fire and pinpoints the location of the enemy shooter, BBN said.

(The above eight-minute video was taken from Youtube.com, the video-sharing website, and it demonstrates how the Boomerang system works. The footage was taken from a show that appeared on the Discovery Channel, said a BBN spokesman, who confirmed that the footage is an accurate description of the system.)

The Boomerang systems for this contract will be manufactured at Kimchuk Inc., a contract manufacturing and engineering firm based in Danbury, Conn.

BBN's press release included a statement from the office of US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.

The statement from Kennedy's office said: "Sniper detection is indispensable in keeping our brave men and women in uniform safe in Iraq and Afghanistan and the senator is proud that BBN Technologies' Boomerang systems have again been selected by the Army to carry out this mission. He looks forward to continuing to work with BBN Technologies and the Army to see that our troops have the best possible equipment to meet their needs."

The video appearing above this story originally aired on a Discovery Channel show called FUTUREWEAPONS. The show, which explores the science and technology that goes into the making of the latest weapons, is hosted by ex-Navy Seal Richard "Mack" Machowicz. Discovery's sister channel, the Military Channel, plans to re-air the show with the segment on the Boomerang system at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 17, a spokeswoman for the channel said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)