Irvine Sensors Wins Contract

COSTA MESA — Irvine Sensors Corp. said Tuesday that it has received a $600,000 contract from the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare System Command to develop a highly accurate, miniature, self-contained guidance system that would be about the size of a sugar cube.

The 18-month contract is not expected to create new employment opportunities at Irvine Sensors. The company now has 75 workers at its Costa Mesa headquarters and 50 at a manufacturing plant in Vermont, but it is closing the Vermont operation and laying off most of those workers late this summer.

The Navy envisions using the tiny inertial navigation system to track and guide equipment such as sonar buoys that are used to locate submarines. The contract includes a $150,000 option for enhancements of the prototype designs.

An Irvine Sensors spokeswoman said the company already has developed the miniature gyroscope that will be the heart of the system.

The company said that applications for the gyroscope extend far beyond military guidance, with market researchers identifying uses in medical equipment, industrial automation, consumer electronics, data switching systems and automotive safety devices, including anti-spin controls.

Irvine Sensors makes high-density electronics, image processing and sensing devices. The company’s stock closed in light Nasdaq trading Tuesday at $1.06 a share, up 6 cents for the day.