Cobham awarded five year contract by US Coast Guard for up to 5,000 ACR personal locator beacons

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. Oct 29, 2011. Cobham has been awarded a US Coast Guard contract to supply up to 5,000 406 MHz ACR Electronics Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), called ResQLink™. ACR, a business unit of Cobham Commercial Systems, will provide up to 1,000 units per year under this five year contract, with a contract extension possible after the fifth year.

The ResQLink™ is small and light enough to hold comfortably in one hand yet powerful enough to guide rescuers to within 100 meters or less of the user’s position in a life-threatening emergency. Many of the GPS-enabled ResQLink™ PLBs are to be used by the US Coast Guard’s small and medium response boat crews.

The ResQLink™ broadcasts a unique registered distress signal that not only tells rescuers where the sender is, but who they are. The onboard 66 channel GPS can quickly fix the sender’s position to within 100 meters and then utilizes a powerful 406 MHz signal to relay the distress call to orbiting satellites. As local Search and Rescue is deployed, a separate homing signal and integrated LED strobe light guide rescuers to the sender’s exact position.