Army looking for electro-optics companies to build 10,000 drivers night vision systems
FORT BELVOIR, Va., 17 Aug. 2015. U.S. Army night vision experts are reaching out to industry to find companies able to manufacture as many as 10,000 devices that help drivers operate wheeled and tracked combat vehicles safely in darkness, in battlefield smoke, or in bad weather.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Fort Belvoir, Va., issued a source-sought notice last week (W909MY-15-R-C022) looking for electro-optics companies able to manufacture Driver's Vision Enhancer-Family of Systems (DVE-FOS) devices.
The notice is looking for companies capable of providing full-rate production engineering services for DVE-FOS devices. The DVE is a compact, lightweight, uncooled, passive thermal imaging system for use on a variety of combat and tactical wheeled vehicles during darkness or periods of degraded visibility.
The system currently uses a 640-by-480-pixel sensor with a 40-by-30-degree field of view and a 800-by-600-pixel display control module that enables the driver to maneuver in severely degraded visual conditions caused by smoke, fog, dust, and other battlefield and environmental obscurants.
The Army Contracting Command issued the notice on behalf of the Army's Program Manager for Terrestrial Sensors (PM-TS). No foreign participants are allowed. Known providers of DVE-FOS devices and similar night-vision devices include BAE Systems, Raytheon Co., and DRS Technologies.
Related: Army selects DRS infrared night-vision sensor for enhanced vision in armored vehicles
Companies interested should email papers no longer than 15 pages to the Army's Sabin Joseph at [email protected] no later than 10 Sept. 2015. RFI: Driver's Vision Enhancer-Family of Systems must be in the subject line.
Email questions or concerns to the Army's Vincent Ramirez at [email protected]. More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/47edaedd8ea61f0cfb8ec6f6e9341272.
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.
