Intevac wins $40 M night vision contract

23 Jul 2019

US government continues to invest heavily in military camera and sensing technologies for aircraft and warfighters.

High-tech photonics and materials company Intevac has won a $40 million contract for the “multi-year production of digital night vision cameras in support of the U.S. Government”. Although the precise details of the technology and applications are not specified, Intevac has a track record of providing photonics-based vision and sensing systems for different arms of the US military (see Related Stories, in the right column).

“This award represents the largest single booking to date for Intevac Photonics, and increases our photonics backlog to the historic level of just over $83 million,” commented Timothy Justyn, the company’s executive vice president and general manager.

“The contract closely follows awards for both the U.S. Army’s IVAS ground soldier program, and the Apache Helicopter’s Pilot Night Vision Sensor (PNVS) foreign military sales, announced in December 2018, demonstrating what Intevac calls its commitment to delivering the latest digital night vision technology to warfighters.

Wendell Blonigan, president and CEO, added, “We are very proud to have received this substantial order for our digital night vision technology. With this new order and increased backlog, we now have multi-year visibility for our manufacturing operations, and continued validation of our digital night vision technology.”

Intevac’s digital night-vision sensors, based on its patented Electron Bombarded Active Pixel Sensor (EBAPS) technology (see below), provide capabilities for the most advanced avionic fighting platforms in the U.S. Department of Defense.

How EBAPS works