Symetrics Industries and PhotoTelesis Join Forces
Melbourne, Florida - 29 Nov 2005Symetrics Industries of Melbourne, Florida, and PhotoTelesis of San Antonio, Texas, have formed a strategic alliance by combining their businesses as wholly owned subsidiaries of a newly formed entity, Symetrics Technology Group. Symetrics and PhotoTelesis will pursue new opportunities offering greater value and capability to their customers.
PhotoTelesis designs, manufactures, and markets high performance, cost effective digital imaging and data communications products for the US Department of Defense, as well as other domestic and international military customers. PhotoTelesis, founded and previously owned by David A. Monroe, is recognized as the industry leader in tactical imagery transmission, and has been for over 19 years.
Symetrics provides engineering, manufacturing, testing, integration and support services for electronic systems of the highest quality for the US DoD, domestic and international commercial and military customers. Founded in 1962, the company has built a track record of superior performance on long-term production contracts for many weapons systems.
“This combination represents a significant strategic positioning for new business opportunities in the defense market,” notes Mitch Garner, Symetrics’ President and CEO. “Symetrics is internationally recognized for its Improved Data Modem (IDM) technology that facilitates digital communications over Combat Net Radios and has worked with PhotoTelesis for several years adding its PRISM™ (Photo Reconnaissance Intel Strike Module) technology to those same IDM products.”
“Both Symetrics’ IDM and the PhotoTelesis® imagery products are flight-proven, ‘off-the-shelf’ systems that facilitate the interconnection to multiple ‘voice-only’ Combat Net Radios to create a multi-path, digital and imagery communications architecture,” explains Ron Ford, President of PhotoTelesis. “This new alliance will be very positive for both our customers and shareholders.
“A recent example of this mutual relationship and technology was a Royal Netherlands Air Force contract for 120 sets of PRISM™ modules, cockpit control units for the fleet of F-16 aircraft, modification kits for the IDM-302, ground station equipment, and technical support. Program success was verified by significant positive feedback coming from the pilots deployed to Afghanistan. The equipment provides real-time imagery sharing between aircraft and ground based command centers.”
Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability
Boeing Buys Symetrics’ Next Generation IDM-501 for Turkish Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) Program - Real-time Digital Communications Offers Improved Situational Awareness in the Cockpit
Melbourne, Florida - 12 Oct 2005Symetrics Industries, LLC, announced that it has been awarded a delivery order contract from Boeing valued at more than $375,000 to manufacture and deliver fifteen Next Generation Improved Data Modems (IDM-501), to support the Turkish Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) Program, Peace Eagle, which operates on the military variant of the Boeing 737-700 aircraft.
“This award is extremely gratifying for the Symetrics team. We feel honored by Boeing’s confidence in Symetrics’ twelve years of IDM expertise and experience, and their recognition of the advanced capabilities of the IDM-501,” notes Mitch Garner, Symetrics’ President and CEO. “The IDM-501 is the one of newest offerings in Symetrics’ Family of IDM Products, and its employment on the Turkish AEWC will add significant capability to that platform, particularly receipt and transmission of free format text and graphics, in a small and very cost-effective package.” “Boeing selected the IDM-501 for the Turkish Peace Eagle program because of its enhanced functionality, smaller size, light weight, reduced heat, ruggedized design and competitive price, making it ideal for the Peace Eagle application”, explains Ron Frye, Vice President, Business Development, Symetrics. With the delivery order for the Turkish Peace Eagle program, Turkey is the second country to employ the new Symetrics’ IDM-501.
Symetrics’ Family of IDM Products range from the international IDM “standard” - the IDM-302 - to the IDM-501, to single card solutions that can be integrated into airborne mission computers, and to ground stations. All of Symetrics’ IDM aircraft products are flight-proven, “off-the-shelf” systems that facilitate the interconnection of up to four separate "voice-only" radios to create a multi-path, digital communications architecture over existing, on-board Combat Net Radios (VHF/UHF/HF).
The IDM-501 (also known as “IDM-Junior”) enhances warfighter mission success by improving the speed and accuracy of communications and coordination during independent air-to-air operation, as well as combined and joint air-to-ground and ground-to-air operations. With the IDM-501, while in flight , combat pilots can receive digital data on targets derived from sensors on satellites, UAVs, other aircraft and/or ground stations. The system provides real-time information in the cockpit or at the airborne workstation, thereby improving target ID/hits, reducing pilot exposure to threats, and elimination of collateral damage.
In 2002, Symetrics was awarded a contract to deliver its MD-1295/A Improved Data Modem (IDM-302) to Aselsan Corporation, Turkey, for integration into the Turkish Land Forces (TLF) UH-60 Blackhawk and AH-1 Cobra helicopter fleets, as part of a TLF upgrade program. Some of the Symetrics’ IDM-302s were the PRISM™-IDMs. PRISM™ stands for Photo Recon Intel Strike Module, and is a single plug-and-play circuit card that adds imagery capability to the IDM-302’s ability to receive and transmit voice and digital information. The United Kingdom’s Jaguar fleet also employs Symetrics’ PRISM™-IDMs. The Next Generation IDM-501 provides all the functionality of the IDM-302 (PRISM™ version), but it is half the size, half the “footprint,” half the weight and half the heat of the IDM-302, and it also costs less.