M249 Automatic Weapon
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: FN Manufacturing
Cost per item: about $4,000
Size of 2007 contract: $48.3 million
The Army’s primary machine gun can spit 850 bullets per minute. FN Herstal developed the gun in the early 1980s for the Pentagon, which wanted a lightweight automatic weapon (the one here is 17 pounds). The Belgian company’s South Carolina factory makes about 550 a month for the Army.
Desert Tans
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: Belleville Shoe Manufacturing
Cost per pair: $90
Size of 2006 contracts: $46.7 million
This bestseller for the privately held, 700-person company replaced the standard-issue black variety in 2005. They have extra-cushioned soles modeled after commercial running shoes, so they don’t require breaking in. Bonus feature: They don’t need polishing either.
PackBot
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: iRobot
Cost per unit: $120,000
Size of 2006 contract: $51.5 million
This bomb-defusing contraption is brought to you by the maker of Roomba, the home-vacuuming robot. The 40-pound PackBot can travel at 4.5 miles per hour, and its arm extends more than six feet.
Bullets
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: Alliant Techsystems
Size of 2006 contract: $1.1 billion
Minnesota-based Alliant supplied 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition to the military last year, 200 million more than in 2005. The company, which also produces rocket motors and land mines (as well as duffel bags and paper targets), collected $1.1 billion from the Department of Defense in 2006, making it the Army’s 13th-largest contractor.
Meal Ready to Eat No. 7
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: AmeriQual Group
Subcontractors: Mars (M&M’s), Diamond (salt)
Size of 2006 contract: $116 million
AmeriQual, a food packager based in Indiana, will sell 17 million M.R.E.’s to the military this year, including 365,000 pounds of M&M’s and 7.8 million miniature bottles of McIlhenny's Tabasco sauce. M.R.E.’s must survive at least three years at 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Apache Helicopter
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: Boeing
Cost per new aircraft: $32.7 million
The two-person Apache has been the Army’s primary attack helicopter since 1984. Boeing has delivered more than 500 of the aircraft since 1997. The helicopter is just one part of Boeing’s military business, which brought the company $20.3 billion in 2006, making it the second-largest contractor, behind Lockheed Martin.
Flex Cuffs
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: Monadnock Lifetime Products
Cost per item: $1
Last year, the Army ordered more than a million of these use-and-toss restraints, which the company has been selling to police departments in New York City, Baltimore, Boston, and elsewhere since the 1980s. Its revenues have quadrupled since 2000, to $8 million; military sales have been its biggest area of growth.
Hydration Pack
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: CamelBak Products
Cost per item: $60
Size of 2006 contract: $7.7 million
Not long after CamelBak was founded by an endurance cyclist in 1989, its trademark squishy water-toting backpacks became popular with Special Forces in the first Gulf War. The company won its first government contract in 1997; military sales now make up half its business.
Protective Eyewear
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: Oakley
Cost per item: $90
Size of 2005 contracts: $5.5 million
Better known for outfitting surfers and cyclists, Oakley has been a military contractor since 1984. The Army boosted its order for Oakley’s ballistics-protection sunglasses for the Iraq war. One reason: government-issued glasses were so ugly, they weren’t always worn.
Combat Earplugs
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: Aearo Technologies
Cost per pair: $7
Size of 2005 contracts: $2.8 million
The dark green side blocks steady noises, like the rumble of a Humvee; the yellow end compresses sporadic noise—say, gunfire—while allowing soldiers to hear one another. Permira, a private equity firm in London, scooped up the business last year for $765 million.
Amphibious Assault Vehicle
Photo by Christopher Griffith, Caption by Mary Bridges
Contractor: BAE Systems
Cost per Item: $125,000 in 1972
These 29-ton transport vehicles, were designed to carry Marines from water to land in Vietnam. For $220,000 per vehicle, London-based BAE guts them, replaces their engines, and outfits them with modern communications systems and weaponry for use in Iraq. BAE’s 2006 $4.7 billion contract makes it the eighth-largest contractor.
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