By Company (L3)


March 2024

November 2023

October 2023

Lockheed Martin Missile Development Funding to Expand Infrared SeekersPREMIUM

JAGM expected to move to tri-mode seeker

August 2023

June 2023

April 2023

March 2023

December 2022

September 2022

August 2022

June 2022

May 2022

February 2022

December 2021

April 2021

July 2020

June 2020

May 2020

April 2020

Shipboard EO/IR Defense System to Become $1B ProgramPREMIUM

A Major Application for T2SL/nBn FPAs

March 2020

FWS-I Program to Ramp UpPREMIUM

Program Expanding, Seeking Second Source

December 2019

October 2019

July 2019

L3Harris Technologies Emerges After the Merger of L3 and HarrisPREMIUM

An Infrared Powerhouse and the Sixth Largest Defense Company in the U.S.

June 2019

May 2019

April 2019

Small Pixel Uncooled Microbolometer Market Splits into Two Halves as Some Suppliers Concentrate on Larger Formats OnlyPREMIUM

In an effort to stay out of highly competitive commercial markets some microbolometer suppliers are staying out of the mid-format (320 x 240) small pixel (10-12 µm) market.

March 2019

November 2018

T2SL FPAs Moving into Major Infrared ProgramsPREMIUM

L3 Space & Sensors (Mason, Ohio) is continuing to move its FPA production away from InSb and to T2SL/nBn (Type II Superlattice).

October 2018

August 2018

FLIR Systems Moves to T2SL Infrared Detector TechnologyPREMIUM

FLIR Systems, which has long concentrated on its mature InSb FPA technology has been internally developing Type 2 Superlattice (T2SL) FPAs for use in future products.

The company, which has been part of the VISTA consortium, is making use of the InAs/GaSb epitaxial structures that have been developed by JPL and NRL under the VISTA program and grown by IntelliEPI and IQE. It is expected that the company will soon introduce a camera core based on a HOT MWIR 640 x 512 FPA with 15 micron pixels.

July 2018

Sofradir Reorganizes – Takes Advantage of Synergies Between Cooled and Uncooled BusinessesPREMIUM

Sofradir and Ulis are reorganizing in an effort to make their infrared detector businesses more efficient. In order to do so, the new management team will exploit synergies between the cooled Sofradir operations and the uncooled microbolometer operations of Ulis

Twelve departments are being set up, among them two new ones: Technology & Strategy and Projects & Programs. All of the departments will be common to both the cooled Sofradir and uncooled Ulis businesses. Previously, the Sofradir and Ulis operations had separate groups handling these functions.

Army Moves Fast to Implement ENVG-B as Follow-on to ENVG IIIPREMIUM

ENVG-B (Enhanced  Night Vision Goggle – B), an enhanced version of ENVG III, will work together with the Family of Weapon Sights – Individual (FWS-I) or can be used independently. It will replace ENVG-III.

June 2018

Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Sign Contract for New EO-DASPREMIUM

Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have signed a contract under which Raytheon will provide the next-generation EO-DAS (Electro-optical-Distributed Aperture System) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The new system will make use of very large format, small pixel MWIR nBn FPAs developed by Raytheon Vision Systems (Goleta, California).

Start-Up Copious Imaging Taking Digital-pixel Readouts to New LevelPREMIUM

Copious Imaging (Lexington, Massachusetts), a spin-off of MIT Lincoln Labs, intends to transform infrared Read-out Integrated Circuits (ROICs) by not only placing a small low-power analog-to-digital converter at each pixel to form a DROIC (Digital-pixel ROIC) but also provide each pixel with computational capability to produce "Computational Pixel Imagers."

ENVG-B is Poised to become a Major Program with First AwardPREMIUM

ENVG-B, a binocular version of the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle, is moving rapidly into Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD).

ENVG-B will be similar to ENVG III, fusing images from an image intensifier with those from a microbolometer. However, ENVG-B will have the option to be used as either a fused monocular or as a binocular (ENVG III is monocular only).

May 2018

Breakthrough in T2SL Sensor Adoption PREMIUM

A breakthrough in the more widespread use of Type 2 Superlattice (T2SL) FPAs is about to occur. One of the largest infrared applications in the U.S. - the EO-DAS (Electro-optical-Distributed Aperture System) for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - is being upgraded to T2SL FPAs (from the existing large format InSb FPAs).

The Air Force anticipates two potential upgrades.

April 2018

L3 Restructures Uncooled Infrared BusinessPREMIUM

L3 Technologies is making changes to its uncooled amorphous silicon (a-SI) microbolometer business. The company’s L3 Sensor Technologies (formerly L3 Infrared Products in Garland, Texas) is moving its front-end production of FPAs to TSI Semiconductors (Roseville, California), while vacuum Wafer-Level-Packaging (WLP) is being moved to Mason, Ohio. By the end of the year, the Garland facility is expected to be shut down, with only design engineering remaining in the Dallas, Texas area.

August 2017

July 2017

June 2017

May 2017

L3 Infrared Products Readies Release of 12 Micron MicrobolometersPREMIUM

Improves Performance of both 12 and 17 micron FPAs