WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., 11 June 2008.ITT Corp.'s Night Vision division has received a $14 million order from Annapolis, Md.-based ARINC Inc. for 16-millimeter image intensifier tubes for two advanced aviation programs. The tubes will be integrated into the Panoramic Night Vision Goggle (PNVG) and the Quad-Eye—aviation systems that operate with four image tubes rather than the traditional two tubes in order to expand field of view for users.
The PNVGs will be used by the U.S. Air Force and Army while the Quad-Eye will serve Navy aviators as part of the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS).
This is the largest single award of 16-mm aviation tubes since the programs entered development in 2003.
ITT Night Vision is the only producer of the 16-mm tube family. Weighing 25 percent less than the conventional 18-mm tube, the 16-mm tube allows four image tubes to comprise a system without adversely affecting the total weight. By including four direct-view tubes, the field of view is expanded to 95 degrees—an important enabler for aviators.
"By compressing our renowned Generation 3 technology into a smaller and lighter image intensifier tube, we are opening many new capabilities for head-mounted systems, as these quadruple-tube goggles illustrate," says Mike Hayman, president of ITT Night Vision.
The 16-mm tube also is used in ITT's Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (ENVG), the first sensor-fused, helmet-mounted monocular to combine infrared and image intensification imagery, produced for the U.S. Army.
