The United States Army awarded $56 million to Raytheon Compony and DRS Technologies on Monday to engineer, manufacture and develop a third generation forward-looking infrared B-Kit.
The next-generation technology will be an upgrade to current night vision equipment, allowing ground troops to discriminate between friendlies or enemies at twice the distance of current systems.
“After decades of experience delivering high-performance night vision to the U.S. Army, our team is uniquely qualified to help maintain combat overmatch for our ground troops,” Duane Gooden, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president, said. “Third Gen FLIR will dramatically increase the range of ground combat vehicle sensors under all conditions, allowing our forces to acquire and stop the enemy.”
Raytheon has delivered more than 20,000 second generation FLIR sensors to the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and FMS customers over the last decade. The new third generation system will offer ground troops four fields of view and a dual-band infrared image with improved stabilization and range performance.
The four-year contract will cover all facets of the development process from design to manufacture. A two-year option to build additional systems for more comprehensive testing is also included in the agreement.