Local Manufacture for CoMPASS II and CoMPASS Rev III
Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) announced on 25 February that it has received orders valued at approx. US$33 million from Elbit Systems Electro-Optics (ELOP) subsidiary for next-generation electro-optical/infra-red (EO/IR) payloads – specifically the ELOP CoMPASS III and CoMPASS Rev III.
As part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, BEL has already entered into a Technical Collaboration Agreement (TCA) with ELOP for the transfer of technology for the manufacture of these EOIR payloads and for providing lifetime maintenance support at its manufacturing facility at Chennai. BEL has established the necessary infrastructure and is already supplying the EOIR payloads to customers. The company is augmenting these facilities in order to meet the upcoming requirements of variants of EOIR payloads for both domestic and export markets.
The CoMPASS Rev III is a day-and-night surveillance system that includes a colour TV daylight camera, a third-generation medium-wave infra-red (MWIR) sensor, a laser target designator and rangefinder (LTDRF), a short-wave IR (SWIR) sensor, internal GPS, automatic tracking and command and control capabilities. It is distinguished by a wide variety of interfaces, enabling integration with a range of airborne systems such as the mission computer, fire control, radar, GPS, data downlink and helmet-mounted tracking systems. Its small dimensions, low weight, high level of stabilisation and coverage angles make it an optimal choice for long-range day/night surveillance, target tracking, fire control applications and search and rescue.
It is the most advanced version of its payload family, featuring reduced weight, high degrees of modularity and flexibility, space-saving packaging and advanced operational and video processing features.