Thermal weapon sight contract for Army rifles, machine guns, and mounted weapons goes to BAE Systems

Sept. 1, 2010
LEXINGTON, Mass., 1 Sept. 2010. U.S. Army officials needed thermal weapon sights for rifles, machine guns, and mounted weapon systems for infantry soldiers in combat. They found their solution from the BAE Systems Electronic Solutions segment in Lexington, Mass. BAE Systems won a $123 million Army contract to continue production of thermal weapon sights that improve situational awareness and survivability for infantry soldiers, company officials announced today. The order increases the BAE Systems total thermal weapon sight contract value to more than $1 billion since 2004, company officials say.

LEXINGTON, Mass., 1 Sept. 2010. U.S. Army officials needed thermal weapon sight technology for rifles, machine guns, and mounted weapon systems for infantry soldiers in combat. They found their solution from the BAE Systems Electronic Solutions segment in Lexington, Mass.

BAE Systems won a $123 million Army contract to continue production of thermal sights that improve situational awareness and survivability for infantry soldiers, company officials announced today. The order increases the BAE Systems total thermal weapon sight contract value to more than $1 billion since 2004, company officials say.

BAE Systems Electronic Solutions produces light, medium, and heavy thermal weapon sights using the company's MicroIR uncooled infrared sensor technology to generate superior IR imagery without the need for bulky, power-consuming cryogenic cooling equipment.

In April BAE Systems also received a $14 million contract to provide thermal weapon sights to the Canadian army. These weapon sights enable operators to see deep into the battlefield in darkness and through smoke, fog, and other obscurants, to help them detect and identify targets at long ranges.

The company tests its thermal sites for their ability to withstand harsh battlefield environments, and to date has delivered more than 80,000 sights to meet Army fielding requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For more information contact BAE Systems Electronic Solutions online at www.baesystems.com.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

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