LED Smart Inc. to Provide Tactical Shelter Lighting for the Department of National Defence
August 15, 2017
Weatherhaven Global Resources Ltd. (“Weatherhaven”) has selected LED Smart Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta, to provide specialized tactical lighting systems in support of the company’s efforts to fulfill the requirements of the $168M Headquarters Shelter System (“HQSS”) program for the Department of National Defence.
The $19.2M sub-contract to LED Smart will be for five years and will include design, engineering, manufacturing, and integrated logistics support. The HQSS program, which will provide our forces with significantly upgraded mobile shelter capabilities, will require a minimum of 6,800 tactical lighting fixtures, 1,700 switch assemblies and 1,700 lighting control panels as firm contracted items. This partnership forms part of Weatherhaven’s Value Proposition, under the Industrial and Technological Benefit (ITB) Policy, which is creating high value jobs and supporting world class innovation in Canada. The ITB Policy requires successful bidders on Canadian defence procurements to make investments equal to contract value.
“Weatherhaven selected LED Smart because of the superior design of their LED lighting products, competitive pricing and their commitment to providing industrial and technological benefits to Canada,” said Ray Castelli, Chief Executive Officer of Weatherhaven. “We believe these energy-efficient lighting systems to be among the best in the world and that they represent significant export potential for Canada,” he added.
“The opportunity to provide Canada’s HQSS requirement, on top of an existing opportunity to supply HTL-BU lighting systems to the US military, will enable LED Smart to make a substantial strategic investment decision here in British Columbia. LED Smart will be investing in a new state-of-the-art facility in Surrey, British Columbia, that will be the first of its kind,” said Xinxin Shan, President of LED Smart. “This new facility will position our company to become a major player in the global supply of specialized tactical LED lighting systems.”
The agreement with LED Smart also contemplates an additional $4.9M of optional contracted items for more of the same lighting equipment. In addition, there is a potential for 20 years of in-service support in a series of four, five-year optional contracts.
HQSS is a next-generation tactical shelter system that will be used by Canada to support a number of humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts, both here in Canada and around the world. The “next-generation” design includes a number of innovative features focused on modularity, speed of deployment, re-use, durability and efficiency.
In addition to the Canadian program, which must be delivered by 2021, a number of other countries are evaluating the HQSS design concept for their future tactical shelter needs, thereby generating long-term potential export market opportunities.