Sweden Orders Advanced Infrared Weapon Sights

Leonardo DRS, Inc. has received contracts to provide more than 4,600 thermal weapon sights to the Swedish Ministry of Defense (MoD), including Individual Weapon Sight (IWS) and Individual Weapon Sight-Long Range (IWSLR) variants.

These firm-fixed-price contracts are worth approximately $50 million. The DRS Electro-Optical Infrared Systems (EOIS) business production team in Melbourne, FL delivered over 1,100 weapon sights to the Swedish MoD within 30 days of contract receipt.

The IWS was designed for small arms, shoulder fire weapons and light machine guns, while the IWSLR was designed for heavy machine guns and Sniper applications. The IWS family provides the ability to acquire targets day or night and in smoke or fog and gives the operator both stand-alone and clip-on options, significantly increasing survivability and lethality on the battlefield. 

“This contract represents the start of a relationship in providing our thermal weapon sights to the Swedish Ministry of Defense to increase protection and effectiveness of their dismounted forces,” said Jerry Hathaway, senior vice president and general manager of the DRS Electro-Optical Infrared Systems business. “We are proud that this important US ally continues to recognize the strength and commitment we put behind our industry-leading EOIR products from demonstration and testing to rapid delivery.”

The contracts were awarded to DRS partner Leonardo GmbH in Germany as the prime contractor. The company will deliver more than 3,100 IWS and 1,500 IWSLR variants. 

Production of the weapon sights was completed in the company’s Electro-Optical Infrared Systems facilities in Melbourne, Florida and Dallas, Texas.