Interview with Matt Baker, Streamlight Director of Military/Federal/Government Sales

MONS: How do you analyse current operational use of your products against initial useful life projections with respect to soldier modernisation programmes?

M. Baker: Streamlight manufactures a variety of products that are standard “issued” supply items for each branch of the US Department of Defense (DoD). Our high performance lights, lanterns, weapon light/laser sighting devices and scene lighting solutions are engineered and manufactured in such a way so that the same piece of gear can be used by the covert operator pinpointing an air-bomb target; the pilot dropping the munition, or the search and rescue team that extracts these operators should the mission go sideways.
By consolidating features into a single platform, we enable the war-fighter to do more with less. The operator can carry less gear and fewer batteries, thus carrying less weight into a deployment. In general, we design our products to do more, run longer, be smaller and lighter, and remain intuitive and easy to activate under the harshest conditions.

MONS: In terms of the future growth and sustainment of your products, what would your priority goals be?

M. Baker: We will continue to listen and respond to the changes and needs of our end users, who in turn are responding to the changes on the battlefield. Ensuring our outputs meet proper facial recognition thresholds while remaining covert to commercial sensors is a key tactical consideration. And maintaining our products’ ruggedized performance – including withstanding recoil on new calibers being sought by DoD on new weapon platforms — is also critical to future enhancements of our TLR series of weapon lights.

MONS: What percentage do you put into R&D?

M. Baker: While we don’t discuss specific numbers, research and development (R&D) is a huge focus for Streamlight, especially for products for the military. We also rely heavily on test and evaluations from the end user community; we continue to improve our products by better understanding the demands of operators and their various field-craft.

MONS: What will happen at Streamlight in the next year?

M. Baker: As a leading provider of lighting products for military uses, we will continue to play to our strengths of offering products for any military application, regardless of career or job field. We will continue to adapt the latest advancements in LED technology and combine them with our expert engineering to create lighting products that keep pace with the needs of all operating environments. Over the next 12 months and beyond, you can expect to see continuing company growth in response to worldwide demand for Streamlight products.

MONS: Are there some key messages to our readership that you would like to address?

M. Baker: We are open to any and all product suggestions from our end users. Military end-user feedback is shared at the highest levels of the organisation, as well as with the entire Streamlight team in our continuing quest to develop the best lighting products possible for the warfighter.

MONS: Thank you.

DSEI 2017 is showcasing the future of innovation across defences and www.monch.com brings together key developments from the show. For more information please see MILITARY TECHNOLOGY #9/2017, available at the show on the Mönch stand S2-165; and frequently check back for more NEWS FROM THE FLOOR.