High Tech Tulsa Company Develops Combat Tracking System

Tara Vreeland, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- A Tulsa-based technology company announced they will bring almost 60 high paying jobs to the area.

The company is only the second in Oklahoma to qualify for 21st Century Quality Jobs.

The company is Ground Warfare Acoustical Combat System - GWACS for short. It is a company that specializes in sniper and gunshot detection systems for the military.

It's new technology will bring safety to the military and jobs to Oklahoma.

A gun fires, and you look to see where it came from. But hearing is not our strongest sense. Chances are you are looking in the wrong direction.

For the military precious time spent finding the threat could be a matter of life or death.

"As soon as a gunshot goes off, it's very disorienting," said Judson Gudgel, President and Chief Operating Officer of GWACS.

"As individual war fighters are off in urban terrain, there's a lot of echoes as the gunshot goes off. You have no idea where it came from."

The Tulsa-based research company is changing that. GWACS developed a "gunshot detection system." The acoustic sensors pick up the location of the shooter as soon as a shot is fired.

"It gives immediate situational awareness for them to not only take cover but also to take action and eliminate the threat," Gudgel said.

With the U.S. military as the primary customer, the company is expanding. GWACS Defense Incorporated will create 58 new high wage jobs in Tulsa.

It qualifies for the state incentive package because the average job pays almost $95,000.

"It has tremendous impact on economy," said Jim Fram, Tulsa Metro Chamber Senior Vice President of Economic Development.

"Tulsa's future goals are to bring jobs in with a $50,000 annual salary base, so to bring in nearly 60 new jobs nearly at the $100,000 a year level - it's a home run for us.

"We're from Tulsa. Tulsa's a great place - an enormous amount of engineering talent. The Universities - OSU, OU, TU - a tremendous amount of engineering talent," Gudgel said.

The company is creating jobs for 58 people in Tulsa and a lifesaving device for America's military. They also plan to develop gunshot detection systems for vehicles and aviation.

The new jobs will primarily be engineering jobs