On 19 December the Royal Netherlands Navy and Thales Nederland signed the final development order for the SIRIUS infrared sensor. The order covers the production engineering phase and will last about 14 months.
The Canadian company DRS is subcontractor and will be responsible for the lenses and the processing cabinet.
This new contract is based on earlier development orders that dealt with, among others, the cold and warm water tests of SIRIUS. These successful tests are used to implement minor changes in the design.
Another point that needs to be checked in this phase is the ensured availability of parts. After this period of 14 months, a final set of production drawings will be ready, so that series production of SIRIUS may be started.