Kopin Partners with BlueHalo for the Development of New Advanced Simulated Binoculars & Monoscope Products

Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ: KOPN) a leading provider of application-specific optical solutions and high-performance micro-displays for defense, enterprise, consumer, and medical products, today announced it has been awarded a contract from BlueHalo LLC (BlueHalo) for the design, development, and production of advanced simulated binoculars and monoscope products for use in their Advanced Stinger Trainer (AST) system. Both products will significantly increase performance over those currently available in similar systems and add to Kopin’s well-established line of Training & Simulation products.

BlueHalo’s next-generation AST – a fully immersive Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) – provides Stinger teams with operational and tactical training in various virtual environments against multiple air threats. Kopin’s products, which are driven by a computer image generator, will incorporate a positional/directional tracking sensor to provide a realistic simulation of the equivalent fielded products. They utilize Kopin’s high-performance high-resolution color organic light emitting diode (OLED) display to provide near eye-limiting resolution and will be coupled with Kopin’s custom viewing optics to provide outstanding visual performance.

This initial contract award provides for development and fielding in the first of what is expected to be upgrades of multiple training installations, supporting numerous armed forces over the next several years. BlueHalo has developed Stinger training facilities for the U.S. Army Air Defense School at Fort Sill, OK; the North Dakota Army National Guard in Grand Forks; and the U.S. Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, CA and Cherry Point, NC. In December, the BlueHalo team was awarded a $30 million contract from the Netherlands Ministry of Defense Materiel and IT Command to develop and deliver an AST system at Lieutenant General Best Barracks in Vredepeel, Netherlands.

"Military training systems are experiencing a significant increase in demand as many of the world’s armed forces react to current world events, providing their personnel the opportunity to develop required operational skills through realistic virtual training while limiting costly and logistically complex live fire testing,” stated Bill Maffucci, the Kopin’s Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy. “These new simulated binoculars incorporate the very latest in Kopin’s display technology to facilitate highly realistic training for U.S. and NATO forces. We are pleased that Kopin is expanding our customer base with new partners like BlueHalo who has trusted Kopin with developing and producing these critical systems.”