LEXINGTON, Mass., 16 May 2006. BAE Systems has completed U.S. Army qualification of its next-generation family of light, medium, and heavy thermal weapon sights (TWS). The company also has received additional base and option production contract modifications valued at $73 million, bringing the total current contract value to $200 million.
Three variants of the TWS II are designed around BAE Systems' MicroIR microbolometer-based sensor architecture. They are being developed and qualified in partnership with Program Executive Office-Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Va., to provide Army infantry and U.S. Marine Corps with the ability to detect and engage targets day or night, in all weather and battlefield obscurant conditions.
TWS II enables individual and crew-served weapon gunners to see deep into the battlefield, increasing surveillance and target acquisition range.
BAE Systems received a five-year, $111 million TWS II contract in March 2004, with total options of more than $250 million to produce up to 28,000 thermal sights. The latest order is part of this total.
