A clip-on thermal sight that sends its picture to the goggles on a soldier’s helmet is the subject of a new $63 million U.S. Army production order. Leonardo DRS announced the order for its Family of Weapon Sights–Individual, or FWS-I, on Oct. 13, 2026. The company says the wireless link lets soldiers acquire targets without shouldering the weapon.
The order was placed under the Army’s existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the sights, according to the company. Leonardo DRS did not say how many sights the $63 million buys, when they will be delivered or where they will be built.
The details come from Leonardo DRS’ Oct. 13, 2026 release, issued from Arlington, Va. The release describes the FWS-I as a lightweight, uncooled thermal imaging system that works “without the need of cryogenic cooling,” with a clip-on design meant to fit multiple weapon platforms.
Sight picture in the goggle
The feature behind the headline is the link between rifle and helmet. According to the release, the sight is designed to integrate wirelessly with soldier-worn vision devices, including the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle–Binocular, or ENVG-B, and IVAS. That connection “allows soldiers to view thermal imagery from the weapon sight through their helmet-mounted display,” the company says, so they can acquire targets “without needing to shoulder the weapon.”
The Army has described the same idea for years. A Jan. 14, 2015 article by PEO Soldier Public Affairs, “Sensors keep the enemy in sight,” called the FWS-I “principally a weapon-mounted thermal sight” and named the wireless sight-to-goggle connection Rapid Target Acquisition. When it is enabled, the 2015 article said, the soldier “sees the weapon sight image and reticle spatially-aligned within the ENVG III display.”
That article also placed the program in the Army’s structure: the sight was managed by Project Manager Soldier Sensors and Lasers, which it said “is part of the Program Executive Office Soldier.” The Oct. 13 release does not mention PEO Soldier.
In units since 2019
The pairing is not new hardware for the Army. In an Oct. 24, 2019 Army article, Maj. Bryce Gatrell reported that the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, received and fielded the ENVG-B and FWS-I on Sept. 23-26, 2019. He wrote that the devices give soldiers “rapid target acquisition in zero light conditions” and let them see through fog, dust and smoke, day or night.
Leonardo DRS’ release makes a similar case for the sight’s thermal channel, saying it helps identify threats in urban terrain, dense foliage, smoke, fog and darkness.
What the company claims, and what it reports
The release is an order announcement, not a test report. It gives no weight, field of view, detection range or battery figures, and it cites no new trial of the sight. What it documents is the order value, the contract vehicle and the capabilities the company attributes to the FWS-I.
John Baylouny, president and CEO of Leonardo DRS, framed the order around simplicity at the soldier level:
“Modernization at the tactical edge depends on giving soldiers the information they need without adding unnecessary complexity.”
Jerry Hathaway, senior vice president and general manager of Leonardo DRS Electro-Optical Infrared Systems, said in the release that “FWS-I combines advanced uncooled thermal imaging with soldier-worn display integration,” and that the company is “proud the U.S. Army continues to trust DRS to deliver this vital capability.”
The $63 million production order is the verified step. The quantity and the delivery schedule behind it are not in the Oct. 13 release.
Top image: Soldiers of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, with the ENVG-B goggle and Family of Weapon Sights-Individual in 2019. Image Credit: SFC Chris Bridson / U.S. Army — Public domain / Wikimedia Commons