L-3 NightConqueror Thermal Imager To Be Installed On U.S. Navy's Fastest Ship

MILTECH

The Vistar 350 stabilized Navigational E-O System will feature L-3 Cincinnati Electronics' NightConqueror thermal imager.

New York (SPX) Sep 15, 2005
L-3 Communications has announced that its Cincinnati Electronics (L-3 CE) subsidiary will provide the U.S. Navy's Sea Fighter FSF-1 (Sea Fighter) with its advanced NightConqueror thermal imager.

The NightConqueror will be used in the Vistar 350 sensor suite operating as a navigational electro-optical (EO) system on the Sea Fighter, which can operate at speeds greater than 50 knots and has a range of approximately 4,000 nautical miles.

The NightConqueror produces unmatched high-resolution thermal imagery for 24-hour observation in degraded weather conditions (smoke and obscurants). Source: L-3 Communications

The Vistar 350 is a day/night surveillance system that allows enhanced visibility from a wide range of craft, either sea going or for inland waters. The system is ideally suited for new generations of ships, such as High Speed Surface Craft and Patrol Craft, and is small enough to be fitted onboard ships of 10 meters in length.

In addition, the system can be fitted with automatic target tracking or it can be linked to the radar to follow the Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) selected targets or the Electronic Bearing Line (EBL).

According to the Office of Naval Research, which developed Sea Fighter with L-3 Titan as the ship's prime contractor, this high-speed aluminum catamaran will test a variety of technologies that will allow the U.S. Navy to operate more effectively in littoral waters.

Sea Fighter, previously known as Littoral Surface Craft Experimental or "X-Craft," will be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels.

Sea Fighter will also serve as a test bed for developmental mission packages and as a risk reduction experimental vessel for the Littoral Combat Ship and Deepwater Program concepts of operation development at sea. The ship is 262 feet in length and displaces 1400 tons (at full load), with a beam of 72 feet and a navigational draft of 11.5 feet.

L-3 CE's NightConqueror high-performance imager has been selected as the imager of choice for new systems and as an upgrade to many existing legacy programs for the U.S. military. Additional systems are being produced for land attack vehicles, the world's next-generation submarines and surface fleets, advanced airborne reconnaissance pods and the latest fighter aircraft.

MILTECH

Concept Vehicle Illustrates New Military Combat Options

Atlanta GA (SPX) Sep 13, 2005
A concept vehicle designed to illustrate potential technology options for improving survivability and mobility in future military combat vehicles will be shown publicly for the first time Sept. 13-15 at a military technology meeting in Virginia.

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