Parsippany, NJ, -- DRS Technologies, Inc. announced that it has received $43 million in new orders to produce a family of next-generation Thermal Weapon Sights for U.S. Army ground force applications.

DRS received the new orders from the U.S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, acting on behalf of Program Executive Office Soldier. For these awards, DRS will produce light, medium and heavy Thermal Weapon Sights (TWS), which will utilize the company’s uncooled infrared technology. Work for these contracts will be accomplished by the company’s DRS Optronics facilities in Palm Bay and Melbourne, Florida, and DRS Infrared Technologies facilities in Dallas, Texas. Deliveries of more than 4,000 high-performance, affordable, reliable and soldier-friendly TWS will commence in October 2005 and continue through October 2006.

These orders are part of a competitively secured five-year contract awarded to DRS in March 2004. The contract has a base value of $118 million and a total value of $375 million, including options.

"DRS is an industry leader in uncooled, high-performance, thermal imaging systems, and the TWS is a cornerstone program for DRS in this core technology area," said Fred L. Marion, president of DRS’s Surveillance & Reconnaissance Group. "The TWS is optimized to place increased lethality in the hands of individual war fighters, enhancing their survivability on the open and urban battlefields. Moving a key DRS soldier systems product line into high-rate, multi-year production, the TWS program will contribute immediately to the military’s current and future force objectives."

Using advanced microbolometer-based infrared technology, the DRS family of light, medium and heavy TWS will provide U.S. Army soldiers and armament crews with greater range of threat detection and wider field of view at a reduced cost. These sights will better equip the war fighter to see the battlefield and safely engage the enemy.

The TWS produced under these latest orders will mount onto a variety of light, medium and heavy weapons, including M2 and M240 machine guns, M4, M16 and M82 assault rifles, M24 Sniper Weapon System, M107 anti-materiel gun, M136 rocket launcher, MK19 and M203 grenade launchers, and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.

Similar next-generation thermal weapon sights produced by DRS have broad application for various missions of U.S. military services, including the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Special Operations, in addition to the Army. The variety of DRS’s uncooled infrared sensors ensures availability to international militaries, as well. The company’s thermal weapon sights product line can be used for homeland defense initiatives, such as first responders and government customs and border control/protection agencies, in addition to private security companies, domestic law enforcement agencies, and for applications where the protection of high-value assets and critical infrastructure from terrorist threats are priorities.

DRS Technologies
09.06.2005