Producer
BAE Systems
UK-US defense conglomerate (LSE: BA.); BAE Systems Electronic Systems division in Lexington, Massachusetts is the primary US VOx microbolometer FPA production site (distinct from European BAE Systems operations). Long history since early 1980s in uncooled IR detector development. Lead product: Athena™ 1920 — a 1920×1200 pixel VOx array, 12µm pixel pitch, 60Hz, 70g, targeting security/surveillance/targeting/aerial reconnaissance. MicroIR product line. ITAR-controlled; primarily serves US military programs alongside Teledyne FLIR and Leonardo DRS. Maintains both VOx and amorphous silicon (a-Si) technology routes. One of the three or four "tier-1" US-controlled IR FPA producers alongside Teledyne FLIR and Leonardo DRS.
2
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
2
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
2 inputs BAE Systems supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something BAE Systems makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
BAE Systems – Lexington, Massachusetts (IR Detectors) →
USMassachusetts
BAE Systems Electronic Systems primary US VOx microbolometer FPA production facility in Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Uncooled IR detector R&D and production since the early 1980s. Produces Athena 1920 (1920×1200 VOx, 12µm pitch) and MicroIR product lines. ITAR-controlled; primarily serves US military. Lexington MA is adjacent to MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the Route 128 defense electronics corridor — a historically significant US military electronics R&D cluster.
Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RFAAP) →
USVirginia
Government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility in Radford, VA; operated by BAE Systems since 2012; sole US military-grade nitrocellulose manufacturer; ~12,000 t/yr nitrocellulose production capacity; if offline, all US smokeless powder production (St. Marks and others) would halt within weeks; described by Congressional reports as "constant spillages and explosions"
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Electronic Systems (IR Detectors, Lexington MA)
10%Air (Combat Aircraft & Typhoon)
30%Maritime (Submarines & Warships)
25%Land Systems (Armored Vehicles)
20%Cyber & Intelligence
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
BAE Systems Electronic Systems in Lexington, Massachusetts produces VOx uncooled microbolometer infrared focal plane arrays that simultaneously go into: US military targeting systems (rifle sights, vehicle thermal sights, drone sensors); commercial building security cameras; automotive night vision systems (Cadillac, BMW); and COVID-era fever detection screening cameras deployed in airports and offices. The ITAR-controlled military detector technology and the commercial building security technology share the same VOx vanadium oxide pixel manufacturing process at the same Lexington facility. BAE Systems must obtain export licenses for military-grade detectors while selling commercial variants to non-ITAR customers -- the same factory, same physics, different paperwork. When COVID created an explosion in demand for thermal fever-detection cameras in 2020, BAE Systems and its competitors (Teledyne FLIR) faced allocation decisions between military and commercial fever detection customers, with both using the same underlying VOx detector technology.
BAE Systems Electronic Systems ↗Origin2023
BAE Systems was formed in 1999 from the merger of British Aerospace (BAe) and the defense electronics business of General Electric Company UK (GEC Marconi, distinct from US GE). British Aerospace had been assembled from the nationalization of Hawker Siddeley, British Aircraft Corporation, and Scottish Aviation in 1977, then privatized by Thatcher in 1981. The Electronic Systems division in Lexington, Massachusetts traces to the acquisition of Analytec (formerly Sanders), an early US infrared detector developer. Through a chain of mergers and acquisitions involving Texas Instruments' defense electronics, Loral, and Lockheed Martin divisions, BAE Systems assembled the US uncooled infrared detector technology base that now produces the VOx microbolometer arrays used in US military thermal sighting and reconnaissance systems. A British defense conglomerate owns the Massachusetts factory that produces ITAR-controlled military IR detector components that are foundational to US armed forces thermal imaging.
BAE Systems plc ↗