DHi Wins Navy Gunsight SBIR II Award

Arlington, VA (March 7, 2007)—The Department of the Navy has awarded a $750K Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract to Defense Holdings, Inc. (DHi) to continue the company's innovative work on replacing radioactive tritium in U.S. Marine Corps gunsights.

Currently, tritium is in exclusive use as a persistent, non-electric source of illumination in military sights due to its simplicity and minimal weight factor. But tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, presents numerous safety, environmental, and logistical concerns due to its radioactivity. Additionally, storage, transportation, and disposal of tritium sources have proved to be expensive and burdensome, resulting in significant legacy costs to the Navy.

A persistent, non-electric, non-radioactive photoluminescent product offered by DHi is now available to replace tritium while maintaining tritium’s capabilities. This SBIR Phase II award, “Persistent Illuminators as a Replacement for Tritium in Weapons Sights” (Topic N04-198), will help move the company's exciting new technology closer to the goal of providing a new, safer, and more technologically-advanced generation of illuminated gunsights to the nation's warfighters. It is hoped that the Army will adopt this technology as well.

DHi is a world-class team of dedicated engineering professionals committed to developing and deploying innovative technologies to advance the national interest and improve the lives of all Americans.