(Tribune News Service) — Two Huntsville, Ala., companies have been awarded a five-year, $910 million contract with the U.S. Army to assist with testing weapons systems at Redstone Arsenal.

The contract is in support of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command through a joint venture, Joint Technical Solutions, LLC, between Astrion and AI Signal Research Inc.

“Leveraging our over 30-year legacy of assisting the U.S. Army, we provide our customers with guidance on new defense and technology issues to get ready for what’s ahead,” said Dave Zolet, CEO of Astrion. “This partnership underscores Astrion’s dedication to ensuring mission continuity and maintaining operational stability. We take pride in our ongoing service to the customer, embodying our commitment to future innovation and excellence.”

ASRI is the small business lead in the joint venture. As the larger company, Astrion is serving in a mentor’s role and providing support.

“We work very closely together,” ASRI President Bill Colson said. “We have a long history of working together. Now, we’ll continue that in a much stronger fashion through this contract. Both companies, we are thrilled and honored to be able to continue to support the Redstone Test Center.”

The two companies will assist in the testing of aviation and missile systems and technologies associated with that for the Army. Between 500 and 600 workers will be involved with the testing.

“The type of work we provide ranges from hands-on skilled technicians to degree engineers,” Colson said. “These are individuals, for example, who come from community colleges with associate degree backgrounds doing those kinds of specialized work all the way to degree engineers from multiple disciplines, electrical, mechanical, aerospace, for example, and computer scientists and programmers to administrative professionals who help make sure all of the work is managed and accounted for properly.”

Matt Matoushek, Atrion’s executive vice president and general manager over the Army program, called the workforce a “technician-based, technical-based team that’s hands on, turning wrenches, running wires, setting up targets.”

He said the contract will have a “huge impact” on north Alabama and southern Tennessee, where the workforce resides.

“A lot of that workforce is already in place,” Colson added. “They’ve been doing that type of work and will transition into this new contract.”

This announcement follows the recent launch of Astrion, which brought together two government services firms, Oasis Systems and ERC. ERC had been operating in Huntsville since 1988.

ASRI has been operating in Huntsville for 34 years and has a long history of providing technical engineering type support to NASA and the Army at the arsenal, Colson said.

“The joint venture is a fantastic way for our company to continue providing that type of critical support from the region to Redstone Arsenal,” Colson said.

And Matoushek said the joint venture is “crucial to supporting the U.S. Army’s mission readiness through the Redstone Test Center.”

“We are proud to deliver cutting-edge test and evaluation solutions that empower and protect the U.S. warfighter,” he said.

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