CASE IN POINT
according to the kinds of services or products they develop and provide for the overall 2GF product:
Tier One entities include system integrators and sensor system-level suppliers. Tese are typically original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with which the Army contracts for development or production of com- plete FLIR sensor systems.
Tier Two includes suppliers of critical imaging subsystems, including FLIR optical assemblies such as the 2GF afocal
telescope and imager-scanner;
integrated Dewar cooler assemblies, also known as the 2GF standard advanced Dewar cooler assembly; and image processing algorithms, systems software, and electronics and control circuit card assemblies.
Tier Tree comprises suppliers of critical components of
the 2GF sub-
systems, including the infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs), which convert the IR energy into electrons; the optical elements in the FLIR lenses; and the cryogenic coolers that maintain the FPAs at cryogenic temperatures.
Tier Four entities manufacture critical materials
and enabling technologies
for the 2GF components, such as the multispectral IR coatings for lenses, the detector substrates used in FPA fabrication and the powerful magnets for the cryogenic coolers.
Te success of the 2GF program hinged in large part upon the continued viabil- ity of each of these entities, as well as their ability to collaborate often and well with one another to produce a given 2GF. Today and in the foreseeable future affordable sustainment of fielded 2GF systems, as well as the requirement to modernize the 2GF sensor, will hinge upon the continued viability of the FLIR IB.
50 Army AL&T Magazine
BATTLEFIELD EDGE A cavalry scout from 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (6-4 CAV), Combined Task Force Duke moves along a ridge during an early morning reconnaissance patrol near Combat Outpost Khilaguy, Afghanistan, on Aug. 29, 2013. FLIR capabilities allow Soldiers to maintain a decisive overmatch that the Army is working to retain for the future. (U.S. Army photo by 1LT Charles Morgan, 6-4 CAV)
Te multi-tier FLIR IB can also be broadly categorized into two segments, each of which is likely to require a differ- ent set of mitigations and solutions to the pressures on the IB.
One segment, the manufacturing base, consists not only of the OEM’s physical plant and equipment but also key person- nel with highly specialized knowledge and skills that are critical to the plant’s successful operation. Tese
skills are
often the product of many years of expe- rience. In order to sustain this segment of the FLIR IB, the Army will need to continue production orders that include lower-tier suppliers of critical subsystems, components and materials.
Te other segment is the engineering
and intellectual base, which is devoted to engineering, systems design, develop- ment, integration and testing of these highly complex sensor systems.
It con-
sists of personnel whose knowledge and experience in sensor systems are similarly
At the same time, the U.S. military depends on the FLIR IB to develop and produce high-performance FLIR sensors with progressively improved per- formance over prior-generation products. Since the early 1980s, the Office of the
critical and highly specialized, such as skills
in physics and all disciplines of
engineering, including software, systems integration and testing. Likewise, the military will need to continue develop- ment efforts and extend them to lower-tier suppliers to stabilize and protect this seg- ment of the FLIR IB.
A NARROW CUSTOMER BASE Contributing to the FLIR IB’s heavy dependence on the U.S. military for its continued viability is the fact that tech- nology exports for the 2GF, and FLIR technologies in general, are highly con- trolled to ensure that the U.S. military retains combat overmatch. As a result, the FLIR IB’s ability to capture revenue from foreign markets is limited.
January–March 2014
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