US Army extends BAE weapon sight contract

The US Army has awarded BAE Systems a $123m (£80m) contract for continued production of thermal weapon sights.

The order − the  most recent under a five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract − increases BAE Systems’ total thermal weapon sight contract value to more than $1bn since 2004.

The electronics technology is used on rifles, machine guns and mounted weapon systems, and can help combatants to see through obscurants, including darkness, smoke and fog.

BAE Systems produces light, medium and heavy thermal weapon sights using its MicroIR uncooled infrared sensor technology to generate IR imagery without the need for bulky, power-consuming cryogenic cooling equipment.

The company has so far delivered more than 80,000 sights to meet urgent US Army requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.