Cassidian Optronics wins military vehicle optronics contract

Under an order announced on 26 March, Cassidian Optronics will supply vision equipment to Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall Defence Electronics to be installed on battle tanks and self-propelled howitzers operated by customers in the Middle East. The order is valued at €40 million.

Cassidian’s equipment will be installed on Leopard 2 A7+ battle tanks and PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers.

For the tanks, the company will supply the PERI RTWL commander’s periscope (RTWL = abbreviation for all round view, day, heat, laser); the sensors for the EMES 15 gunner’s sight; and the FERO Z18 auxiliary sighting telescope.

For the PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, the company will supply the gunner’s sight and the commander’s periscope. For indirect targeting, if the gun laying sensors fail, the R19 panoramic periscope with 4x magnification is supplied. All vehicles are equipped with the Spectus driver’s vision device.

Till von Westerman, head of ground activities at Cassidian Optronics, said: ‘With this order, Cassidian Optronics continues to be the leading supplier of stabilised periscopes and weapon optronics sensors for the entire Leopard family. We view this as recognition of the performance of our products which we continuously improve to increase safety and effectiveness.’

The PERI RTWL stabilised commander’s periscope contains a third-generation Attica thermal imaging unit, a daylight camera and an eye-safe laser range-finder. If a target has been acquired with the PERI RTWL periscope, the data can be sent to the battle tank’s EMES 15 fire control system.

For the EMES 15 system, Cassidian Optronics supplies the Attica thermal imaging unit and parts of the daylight optics as well as the laser range-finder. Working together with the fire control system, these sensors provide very precise targeting and a high probability of the first shot hitting the target.

With the Spectus multi-spectral driver’s vision device, images from an uncooled, high-resolution thermal imaging unit are seamlessly overlaid with images from a camera supporting twilight use, to create a more multi-layered image whether for daytime, night time or for restricted visibility use.