$7M Night Vision Deal from the IDF to ITL
Aug 24, 2006 06:00 EDT
Israeli business news standard Globes notes that ITL Optronics will provide night-vision systems, weapons sights and advanced laser systems to IDF land forces in a deal worth NIS 30 million (about $7 million). The company will provide “Mars” laser pointer rapid-aiming sights for the Tavor assault rifle and for other rifles, as well as other night vision systems. The war against Iran and Syria’s proxies has resulted in a rush order, and ITL CEO Eli Venezia says that the company is working three shifts in order to supply the entire order to the IDF within two months. The first part of the order will be delivered in 10 days.
It would appear that Israel is belatedly learning some of the lessons that US forces have been acting on for the past several years in their procurement priorities: night vision and complementary laser illumination aren’t just for special forces – if widely distributed, they can be a difference-maker on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Ralph Peters recent article on the state of the Israeli reserve force and its shortages makes for sobering reading.
The most interesting element of the article, however, involved CEO Venezia’s vision regarding the future of infantry.
(click to view larger)
Venezia said that the previous way of thinking, which had been developed in the US Army, was that each infantryman would be equipped with state of the art advanced technologies. The USA’s Land Warrior program, and Europe’s various 21st century infantryman projects covered by DID, certainly do tend in that direction, with helmet displays, wearable computers, et. al. as integrated developed systems.
ITL apparently has a different perspective, one more incremental in nature and based on building up an array of immediately useful additions that can work together when necessary but also add value alone:
“We will enhance the development of new systems for infantry and the tailoring of technologies to the new approach to combat… We are leading an approach of decentralization of the systems. Each function in the infantry unit will have independent capabilities and when all of the systems are networked, the result will be a stronger infantry combat system.”
Defense Update offers a couple of examples along these lines, and more can be found on the ITL web site.
ITL Optronics said this recent contract was the latest in a series of orders, including an NIS 8 million order by the army of a European NATO country for night-vision systems.
