WASHINGTON, 17 Feb. 2012. Electronic warfare and electro-optics-related countermeasures are shaping up to be among the few real growth areas of the Pentagon's fiscal 2013 budget, which the Obama Administration submitted to Congress this week. Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend $4.95 billion next year for electro-optic and electronic warfare work, which represents growth of 7.6 percent over the $4.6 billion DOD has budgeted for electronic warfare and electro-optics countermeasures this year.

NASHUA, N.H., Feb. 17, 2012. BAE Systems has won a contract from Northrop Grumman – Aerospace Systems to provide Electronic Support Measure (ESM) systems for use on all 20 B-2 Spirit bombers.

WRIGHT PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 16 Feb. 2012. U.S. Air Force and Navy combat aircraft pilots needed helmet-mounted night vision cueing and display systems for fighter pilots operating high-performance aircraft at night. They found their solution from Vision Systems International LLC in San Jose, Calif. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Air Armament Center (ASC) activity at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, awarded Vision Systems a $19.8 million contract Tuesday for night vision cueing and display standard field night vision devices for the Air Force and Navy.

WASHINGTON, 15 Feb. 2012. Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend at least $31.6 billion next year for activities related to command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), according to Pentagon budget documents released this week. The $31.6 billion the military plans to spend on C4ISR in fiscal 2013 is down 10.92 percent from the $35.47 billion in the Pentagon's current-year budget, and is down 16.8 percent from 2011 C4ISR spending levels.

ARLINGTON, Va., 15 Feb. 2012. Electro-optics scientists at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., released a formal solicitation Monday for the Military Imaging and Surveillance Technology - Long Range (MIST-LR) program (DARPA-BAA-12-22), which seeks to develop fundamentally new avionics and vetronics electro-optic sensors for target identification and tracking.

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 15 Feb. 2012. U.S. Army officials needed micro unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to equip four-to-six-soldier fire teams with video reconnaissance and situational awareness during route- and compound-clearing operations. They found their solution from ReconRobotics Inc. in Edina, Minn. The Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., awarded ReconRobotics a $14 million contract Monday to supply micro robots for video reconnaissance missions.

WASHINGTON, 14 Feb. 2012. Officials of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend at least $5.78 billion to buy and develop unmanned vehicles and unmanned vehicle payloads next year, according to data in the Pentagon's budget documents released this week. This figure is down 13.14 percent from the same levels of spending this year, and is down 16.9 percent from unmanned vehicles procurement and research in 2011.

SINGAPORE, Feb. 14, 2012. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has delivered the first international version of its APY-10 surveillance radar to Boeing. The radar will be installed on the P-8I aircraft Boeing is building for the Indian navy.

ARLINGTON, Va., 12 Feb. 2012. Military electro-optics scientists at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., will brief industry on a project to develop fundamentally new avionics and vetronics electro-optic sensors for target identification and tracking from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on 23 Feb. 2012 at a corporate site in Arlington, Va. The DARPA industry-day briefings are for the Military Imaging and Surveillance Technology - Long Range (MIST-LR) program (DARPA-BAA-12-22).

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Feb. 11, 2012. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has received a $67.4 million contract modification from U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command for design and engineering support for the Cooperative Engagement Capability sensor-netting system.

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Feb. 7, 2012. The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) a $31.4 million contract for the Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) Technical Demonstration (TD) program to develop the next generation of aircraft survivability equipment to defend helicopters against man-portable air-defense systems and other heat-seeking munitions.

TORRANCE, Calif., 5 Feb. 2012. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington needed expertise in helmet-mounted microdisplay technology to help them develop an embedded head-up display to increase personal situation awareness for emergency responders. They found their solution from Physical Optics Corp. in Torrance, Calif.

MELBOURNE, Fla., Feb. 4, 2012. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has purchased four helicopter-mountable, laser mine detection systems.

EAGLEVILLE, Pa., 22 Jan. 2012. U.S. Navy aircraft specialists needed common fiber optic test kits for Navy aviation systems. They found their solution from military electro-optics designers at Clear Align in Eagleville, Pa. Navy officials awarded Clear Align a contract to develop what company officials say is the first common fiber optic test kits naval aviation. Clear Align’s complex kits integrate test fiber optic inspection equipment and aircraft specific adapters for fiber optic testing capability to naval aircraft operating from aircraft carriers or from remote bases, Clear Align officials say.

TORRANCE, Calif., 15 Jan. 2012. Pelican Products Inc. in Torrance, Calif., is introducing the 2710 and 2720 LED head lamp with a wide range of features to adapt many situations. Both head lamps feature a red LED emergency signaling mode that flashes the letters "SOS" in Morse code and a 4X optical magnification lens for closed space and spot lighting. They come with a rubber headband for helmet use, cloth headband, and batteries.

Albuquerque, N.M., 12 Jan. 2011. U.S. Air Force researchers are working with high-energy laser weapons experts at TAU Technologies LLC in Albuquerque, N.M., to develop technologies that eventually may lead to 100-kilowatt laser weapons mounted to the skin of jet bombers and other combat aircraft to defend against missiles, unmanned combat aircraft (UCAV), enemy jet fighters, and other threats.

TAIPEI, Taiwan, 12 Jan. 2012. ADLINK Technology Inc. in Taipei, Taiwan, is introducing the EOS-1200 power over Ethernet (PoE) embedded vision system for multi-camera imaging applications like factory automation and food and packaging inspection. The EOS-1200 implements the 2nd generation Intel Core i7 quad core processor, providing four independent gigabit PoE ports with data transfer rates as fast as 4 gigabits per second.