CONTROP Precision Technologies Ltd.
Stabilised EO/IR payloads, thermal cameras and intruder detection.
CONTROP was founded in 1988 by Israeli Air Force veterans and former Israel Aerospace Industries engineers, and it has stayed deliberately narrow ever since. The company builds stabilised electro-optical payloads, the precision motion control that points them and the continuous zoom lenses inside them, doing the optical design in house rather than buying it in. Ownership is split evenly between Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the Aeronautics group, which makes CONTROP the sensor arm of a wider Israeli unmanned systems cluster while it keeps selling to competing platform builders. Headquarters and production sit in Hod Hasharon, with a US subsidiary handling North American work and a regional arm approved for Abu Dhabi after the 2020 normalisation agreements.
UAV payloads are where the company is best known. The STAMP family of miniature gimbals, including the D-STAMP, U-STAMP, M-STAMP and the larger T-STAMP-XD and T-STAMP-XR, was designed for Group 1 and Group 2 aircraft where every hundred grams matters, and it pairs cooled or uncooled thermal channels with high definition day cameras and laser pointers. For airborne observation from helicopters and light aircraft, the iSky family, including the iSky-30HD and the iSky-50HD, adds range and a heavier gimbal. Land based surveillance runs on the SPEED family. The SPEED-ER and the longer ranged SPEED-LR sit on masts, vehicles and border towers, and US Customs and Border Protection ordered SPEED-LR systems for the southwestern border. Maritime surveillance goes to the iSea family, with the iSea-25HD on small craft and the iSea-50HD carrying an HD thermal channel, a SWIR channel and an eyesafe laser rangefinder for coastal surveillance from patrol boats, navy ships and unmanned vessels. Remote weapon stations on land and at sea take the SIGHT family, from the compact SIGHT-10E through the SIGHT-25E, SIGHT-25HD and SIGHT-50HD, and the T-SIGHT kit packages the same sensor with a tactical management system for rapid deployment.
Two older lines still carry the company. TORNADO-ER is a panoramic infrared system that sweeps a full circle every few seconds and cues operators to moving land and maritime targets automatically, which is how CONTROP frames its answer to counter drone work, force protection and critical site protection. The CEDAR automatic intruder detection system came out of the same thinking and was bought in quantity to secure Greek seaports around the 2004 Olympics. Underneath both sits the FOX family of thermal imaging cameras, in daily service since the 1990s and built around proprietary continuous optical zoom lenses that let one sensor handle wide area search and long range identification without swapping optics. That lens work is the through line across every product the company sells, and it is why platform makers who could buy a gimbal anywhere keep coming back for the glass rather than the gimbal around it.
- Gyro-stabilised electro-optical payload design
- Continuous optical zoom lens design and manufacture
- Cooled and uncooled thermal imaging systems
- Precision motion control and gimbal stabilisation
- Miniature payloads for small unmanned aircraft
- Maritime and coastal surveillance sensors
- Automatic intruder and target detection algorithms
- Electro-optical sights for remote weapon stations
- Real-time video enhancement and image processing
- Border and critical site surveillance system integration
Miniature gyro-stabilised day and night payload for small unmanned aircraft.
Uncooled thermal miniature stabilised payload in the STAMP family for mini UAS.
Three gimbal stabilised payload combining an uncooled thermal camera with an HD colour day camera.
Multi-sensor stabilised payload for small tactical unmanned aircraft with extended detection range.
Longer range member of the T-STAMP line for Group 2 and Group 3 unmanned aircraft.
Three gimbal day and night observation system configured for light aircraft and helicopters.
Larger iSky family payload for medium to long range airborne surveillance.
Extended range land surveillance EO/IR system for masts, vehicles and fixed sites.
Long range land surveillance payload, ordered by US Customs and Border Protection for border towers.
Lightweight maritime EO/IR payload for small boats and unmanned surface vessels.
Maritime surveillance system with HD thermal, SWIR channel and eyesafe laser rangefinder.
Compact stabilised targeting sight for light remote weapon stations.
Medium range stabilised sight for land and naval weapon stations.
Gyro-stabilised medium range targeting sight for ground vehicles and remote weapon stations.
Long range member of the SIGHT family with HD sensors and laser rangefinding.
Rapidly deployable stationary or vehicle mounted EO/IR suite built around the SIGHT-25HD.
Panoramic infrared wide area system that automatically detects and acquires land and maritime targets.
Panoramic automatic intruder detection system for ports, borders and sensitive sites.
Thermal imaging cameras built around proprietary continuous optical zoom lenses, in service since the 1990s.
Mechanical, electrical and software integration of stabilised payloads onto customer aircraft and vessels.
Sensor selection, layout and integration for border, coastal and critical site protection installations.
Programs & Platforms
Hod Hasharon, Israel
Ownership
Subsidiary