ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 16 Feb. 2011. The U.S. Army is ordering 21,877 thermal weapon sights from three U.S. military electro-optics companies in contracts worth $194.9 million, announced Tuesday. Awarding the contracts were officials of the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

The Raytheon Co. (NYSE:RTN) Combat Systems segment in McKinney, Texas, won a $68.7 million contract to provide 9,001 thermal weapon sights, the DRS Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DRS) Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) unit in Palm Bay, Fla., won a $68.2 million contract to provide 6,876 thermal weapon sights, and the BAE Systems (LSE:BA) Electronic Solutions segment in Belcamp, Md., won a $58 million contract to provide 6,000 thermal weapon systems.

/>The Army's thermal weapon sight (TWS) is designed to be a low-cost, high-performance, rugged portable infrared sensor for light, medium, and heavy weapon applications. The TWS enables individual and crew-served weapons gunners to see deep into the battlefield to enhance surveillance and target acquisition ranges.

 

The TWS is designed to give warfighters the ability to shoot equally well day or night. The thermal sights are for small-arms, surveillance, and fire-control applications ranging from individual rifles to medium and heavy machine guns and mounted weapon systems.

For more information contact Raytheon Combat Systems online at www.raytheon.com, DRS RSTA at www.drs.com, the BAE Systems Electronic Solutions at www.baesystems.com, or the Army Contracting Command at www.army.mil/acc.