This sponsored article is brought to you by Theon Sensors

THEON SENSORS has come a long way since its foundation in 1997 to become the leading company in the field of man-portable night vision and thermal systems: In 2020, THEON SENSORS passed the historic mark of 100,000 systems delivered to end users in more than 50 countries worldwide.

This milestone was achieved with the delivery of the first tranche of THEON’s best-selling NYX night vision binocular to the Austrian Armed and Special Forces following the award of a framework contract in November 2019.

Austria is the latest European German speaking country after Germany and Switzerland, that selected the NYX night vision binocular.  A total of almost 14,000 systems are under contract between the 3 countries, establishing the NYX as the leading night vision binocular in Europe.

It also brings the number of NATO countries and partners that use THEONS SENSORS’ night vision monoculars and binoculars to a total of 14 including the Armed Forces of Greece, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and of course the U.S.A., where the NYX is locally assembled and supplied by Elbit Systems of America to the US Marines Corps under the designation PVS-31D. Indeed Elbit selected the NYX after extensive evaluation as the system to be promoted and marketed in the US and worldwide under the brand name F5032.

The end user’s choice within the NYX family of products: NYX, E-NYX and MIKRON

Under the umbrella of the NYX family of products, Theon offers a variety of night vision binoculars, giving the user the choice between 18 and 16 mm image intensifier tubes and standard or wide field of view, with all systems being based on the immensely successful and fully battle proven NYX. All variants use the same fully qualified key common parts and are based on the same high performance optical design. The functions and ergonomics of all systems thus remain the same allowing users to switch from one variant to the other without further training while assuring interoperability between all systems within the family used by the various NATO members.

From left to right: NYX, E-NYX (with 47 degrees field of view) and MIKRON (with 16 mm tubes) all using the same fully qualified basic system design.

All Theon binoculars come with the failsafe automatic shut off system, which ensure full position independent automatic switch off when the system is flipped up or flipped to the side. Features like adjustable IR illumination and manual brightness adjustment are standard with all goggles. The immersion capability has been increased to 30 meters for Special Forces Operations. Depending on the type and system configuration, the weight of THEON SENSORS’ binoculars is typically below 500g.

New Strategic Partnerships

In 2020, THEON SENSORS engaged also in further strategic partnerships with world leading companies in relevant fields such as HENSOLDT Optronics as well as SAFRAN Electronics and Defense.

A particular focus of these partnerships is given to the German and Belgian Armed Forces, who are in the process of sourcing new night vision binoculars. THEON SENSORS has already a very strong presence in this region with its in 2019 established subsidiary THEON Deutschland.

In further strengthening of its support efforts for the German and Belgian Armed Forces, a new strategic partnership was thus created with HENSOLDT, a German and European champion in the field of sensor solutions for defense and non-defense applications with a strong presence also in Belgium, through its subsidiary “HENSOLDT Belgium”.

The strategic partnership with HENSOLDT Optronics is however not limited to the co-production and maintenance of its night vision binoculars but is intended to go well beyond into other areas of optronics system including thermal imaging. The partnership thus strengthens THEONS SENSORS’ industrial presence in Germany while it opens new export opportunities for both companies using each other’s global sales network.

The cooperation with SAFRAN already resulted in a new wide field of view night vision binocular, called E-NYX, with which the two companies compete for the supply of up to 10,000 night vision binoculars to the French Armed Forces.

Finally, THEON Deutschland also cooperates with JK Defence for maintenance and support of its systems with both companies being strategically located in the Duesseldorf area, close to the Belgian border.

With the company’s roots clearly in Greece, THEON SENSORS has become the European leader for night vision binoculars with Belgium and Germany in particular being considered as “home markets”: Indeed THEON SENSORS’ main owner is of Belgian / German descendance while the company’s Business Development Department is headed by a Belgian, who originates from the German speaking community of Belgium. For THEON SENSORS, business is always a personal matter, this time even more so.