Lockheed Martin's Arizona Support Center in Gilbert has received a $36.8 million three-year contract from the U.S. Army to modernize night vision equipment on Apache attack helicopters.
Called the Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor, the high-tech system is located on the nose of each Apache and allows pilots to see and target enemy forces at night and in poor weather. The Arizona Support Center refurbishes and modifies the sensors.
As part of the contract, Lockheed Martin will send a team of Orlando, Fla.-based technicians to U.S. Army Apache locations worldwide to install and test the newly modified systems on the aircraft, the company said.
"Every Apache battalion deployed in support of current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is equipped with the ... system," said Col. Shane Openshaw, Apache program manager. "The system is the number one Apache pilot request since 1997."
