DRS Technologies, has announced that it has been awarded a $6.3 million contract to develop and demonstrate a new near-mid wavelength infrared active detection receiver system. The system will be based on the company's unique Mercury Cadmium Telluride (HgCdTe) electron avalanche photodiode (e-APD) focal plane array (FPA) technology. The receiver will be an ultra-sensitive infrared detection system designed for use with a laser illumination source for detecting land-based threats.
The contract is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and was awarded to DRS by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Work for this research and development contract will be accomplished by the company's DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems – Infrared Technologies Division in Dallas, Texas. DRS is expected to deliver the receiver by November 2008. The total contract award could reach $13.7 million, if a $7.4 million option is exercised. 'This award provides funding to take the next step towards productizing DRS's e-APD technology for the electro-optical threat warning market,' said James M. Baird, president of the company's Surveillance, Reconnaissance & Target Acquisition (RSTA) Segment. 'The APD receiver will form the key enabling technology and subsystem on which the major system integrators can design next-generation electro-optical threat warning systems.' DRS was the first company to demonstrate the attributes of this unique e-APD technology and has been active in developing this new detector during the past eight years.In 2004, the Military Sensing Symposia (MSS) recognized the importance of this technology and presented DRS with its prestigious Herschel Award. The MSS is part of the Military Sensing Information Analysis Center (SENSIAC), operated by the Georgia Institute of Technology under contract to the Department of Defense's Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). Its objective is to promote the development and application of both radar and electro-optic sensor technology, primarily associated with military applications. The Herschel Award is presented at the annual MSS meeting in years in which the selection committee determines that a significant technological breakthrough has occurred. DRS also won the award in 2002. |
