COSTA MESA, CA /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Irvine Sensors Corp. announced that one of its existing purchase orders with Optics 1 Inc., of Manchester, NH, an optical systems designer and manufacturer, has been modified to include initial units of Clip-On Thermal Imager ("COTI") systems to be built under a $37.8 million contract recently awarded to Optics 1 by the Naval Surface Warfare Center of Crane, IN. The COTIs to be delivered under the new contract are intended for use by special operations forces. Irvine Sensors will be acting as a subcontractor, supplying thermal imagers to Optics 1. John Carson, Irvine Sensors CEO, said, "Once the required delivery schedules of the government customer are fully known, we expect that the amount of our subcontract will ultimately exceed $18 million in support of this job."
Irvine Sensors and Optics 1 have been jointly developing the COTI over the past several years under government sponsorship, based on technology originally conceived by Irvine Sensors. The COTI has been designed to clip onto existing military night vision goggles and provide users with thermal images to complement the amplified low-light images that such goggles can currently provide. Such dual capability has been long sought by the military and is intended to enhance imagery obtainable from the existing night vision goggles and provide images in circumstances where physical barriers, atmospheric conditions, or lack of light limit the effectiveness of the existing goggles. There are presently about 1 million night vision goggles in U.S. military inventories that could potentially be retrofitted with the COTI system.
About Irvine Sensors
Irvine Sensors Corp., headquartered in Costa Mesa, CA, is a vision systems company engaged in the development and sale of miniaturized infrared and electro-optical cameras, image processors, and stacked chip assemblies and sale of higher level systems incorporating such products. Irvine Sensors also conducts research and development related to high-density electronics, miniaturized sensors, optical interconnection technology, high-speed network security, image processing, and low-power analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for diverse systems applications.