Clear Align boosts electro-optics expertise with General Dynamics facility acquisition

EAGLEVILLE, Pa. - Aerospace and defense electro-optics specialist Clear Align LLC in Eagleville, Pa., is boosting the company's expertise in military surveillance, reconnaissance, and fire control with its acquisition of the Nashua, N.H.-based pan-tilt systems lens design and optical component facilities of General Dynamics Mission Systems.

The acquisition from General Dynamics brings to Clear Align additional expertise in pan-tilt surveillance systems, infrared cameras, and optics for satellite and space telescopes, maritime targeting, and ground and airborne surveillance, says Clear Align CEO Angelique X. Irvin.

Clear Align is making the jump from electro-optical component manufacturer to subsystems designer with its acquisition of a Nashua, N.H., facility of General Dynamics Mission Systems.

Qualified products, intellectual property, and sales backlog that Clear Align is acquiring from General Dynamics are for defense and homeland security applications, naval surveillance, remote targeting, and unmanned vehicles applications, Irvin said at the Association of the U.S. Army show in Washington.

Financial details of the acquisition have not been released. Clear Align specializes in electro-optic systems and optical components to defense, aerospace, and medical applications. The company builds products for the ultraviolet (UV), visible light, as well as near-, shortwave, medium-wave, and long-wave infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Clear Align's laser and sensing expertise includes optical integration for remote sensing and targeting, and the company provides build-to-print, and custom design, prototype, manufacturing, and systems integration services.

"This is a large operation being integrated into a small organization," Irvin says, pointing out that this portion of General Dynamics Mission Systems is significantly larger than Clear Align was before the acquisition. The deal indicates an imaging industry consolidation of two key competitors and ended in one of the largest component suppliers in the United States, Irvin says.

With the technology and expertise acquired from General Dynamics, Clear Align can provide target detection, recognition, and identification capabilities in pan-tilt imaging systems, including the ability to put 48 pixels on a target at 7.5 miles, and four pixels on a target at 16 miles.

Irvin calls the Nashua, N.H., facility that Clear Align is acquiring from General Dynamics one of the largest optical-fabrication facilities in the United States. It includes more than 50 large optical fabrication machines that make optics, and provide optics diamond turning, polishing, grinding, coating, integration, and environmental testing for imaging, with a specialty in high-definition (HD) imaging.

With this acquisition, Clear Align enhances its position as an imaging system supplier for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and enters the market for military land vehicle-mounted fire-control systems, Irvin says.

The acquisition consolidates Clear Align's existing facilities in Hudson, N.H., into the new facility.

For more information visit Clear Align online at www.clearalign.com, or General Dynamics Mission Systems at https://gdmissionsystems.com.