Peckham Wins $31.6 Million Navy Contract for Aircrew Survival Vests

Peckham Inc. of Lansing, Michigan, secured a maximum $31.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for aircrew endurance survival vests and components, the Defense Logistics Agency said.

First Published: July 31, 2026, 1:46 PM ET

LANSING, MICHIGAN — Peckham Inc., a Lansing, Michigan, nonprofit manufacturer that employs people with disabilities, won a maximum $31.6 million Navy contract for aircrew survival gear as announced on war.gov.

The award is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covering aircrew endurance survival vests and components. It runs four years with no option periods, and the ordering period ends Nov. 17, 2029. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support in Philadelphia serves as the contracting activity under solicitation SPE1C1-26-D-N002.

“This was a competitive acquisition with four responses received,” the agency said in the contract notice. The Navy is the using military service, and the work draws on fiscal 2026 through 2030 defense working capital funds.

Survival vests carry the tools an aviator needs after ejection or ditching, including signaling devices, flotation aids and first-response equipment. A steady federal buyer benefits Peckham and its workforce, while three competing bidders lose the four-year revenue stream tied to the order.

The contract lands with an organization built around a social mission rather than pure commercial output. Peckham operates as an AbilityOne provider, a federal program that channels government purchasing toward nonprofits that employ people who are blind or have significant disabilities, according to war.gov. Federal supply awards give those workers sustained manufacturing hours that ordinary market demand rarely guarantees.

For the average reader, the deal shows how routine Pentagon purchasing supports mid-size employers far from Washington. Lansing sits at the center of Michigan, a state better known for automobiles than for military textiles, and a multiyear federal order stabilizes local payrolls through 2029.

This has happened before. Defense agencies award indefinite-delivery contracts for survival and life-support equipment on a recurring basis, replacing aging inventory and meeting flight-hour demand across the fleet. Repeat competition among a small field of qualified vendors is standard for specialized aircrew gear.

The Defense Logistics Agency will decide the size and timing of individual orders throughout the ordering period, which closes Nov. 17, 2029. A schedule for the first delivery order has not been announced.

Military reliance on Michigan manufacturing is not new. The state turned its factories toward defense during World War II, when Willow Run near Ypsilanti produced B-24 Liberator bombers at a rate approaching one per hour by 1944, according to war.gov. That wartime buildout reshaped the regional economy for decades, and federal contracts have anchored pockets of Michigan industry ever since.