PROOF gets $11.42 million government contract

Columbia Falls firearm manufacturer PROOF Research has been awarded an $11.42 million contract to develop advanced weapons parts for the federal government, the has company announced.

The contract calls for PROOF to develop prototype hybrid-composite muzzle brakes and medium-caliber barrels for future weapons systems, according to a company statement. PROOF specializes in composite-built firearms, parts and defense materials.

David Curliss, general manager for PROOF’s advanced composite division in Ohio, said the contract gives the company a chance to advance its product line.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to take our technology beyond the products we have,” he said. “We hope to be successful in the development of the technology and the demonstration of the prototypes that validate the advancement of the composite material and barrel system.”

Curliss said PROOF will look to bring the same performance the company has fostered from its composite-built small-caliber weapons to the prototype for medium-caliber weapons in future fighting vehicles and other systems.

“They’re not shoulder-fired weapons,” he said. “This [research and development] activity is focused on transitioning and scaling the benefits we see in the small-caliber technology into weapon platforms, specifically focused on medium-caliber weapons.”

The contract with PROOF has a three-year lifespan, but Curliss said PROOF likely would seek a manufacturing contract with the U.S. government for these new weapons components, if the prototypes are successful.

“We would be ideally positioned to be integrated into the new weapons systems,” he said.

PROOF’s headquarters in Columbia Falls will develop the muzzle brakes and barrels in collaboration with Curliss and the staff at the company’s Ohio location.

PROOF Chief Executive Officer Larry Murphy said in the press release the project is an exciting progression of the company’s commercial and military product line into larger weapons.

“PROOF’s hybrid-composite barrel technology is unique in that it opens up the design space to provide lightweight, high-stiffness barrels that cannot be manufactured with traditional materials and techniques,” Murphy said. “We can design and build medium-caliber weapon system barrels with performance characteristics previously not attainable.”

The contract awarded to PROOF comes from a collaborative program between the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Armaments Consortium, a coalition of stakeholders from private businesses and academic institutions. The two groups form the Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium, which works to facilitate defense weaponry technology from the government, industry and academic sectors.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.