BAE Systems has been selected by the US Army to provide an integrated enhanced night vision and targeting solution, it announced on 4 May.
The company was awarded a five-year contract worth up to $434 million with an initial award of $35 million to meet the army's Enhanced Night Vision Goggle III and Family of Weapon Sight-Individual (ENVG III/FWS-I) programme goals.
The army aims to improve the speed and accuracy of targeting by dismounted soldiers in all weather and lighting conditions with this solution.
At present, US troops use night vision goggles for situational awareness and a weapon-mounted thermal sight for targeting. A soldier has to first identify and acquire the target with the goggles and then raise the weapon sight into his field of view to engage.
By integrating night vision and thermal targeting capabilities into one sight displayed on the soldiers' goggles, BAE Systems' new solution aims to allow troops to acquire targets more easily and engage faster.