MIDDLETOWN – KVH Industries Inc. has received yet another large order for its fiber-optic gyros that will be used by the military.
KVH said the $2.1 million order for the devices, which assist in navigation, is for use in remote stabilized weapon systems. The order is scheduled to be finished by early next year.
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KVH also announced a $2.5 million order for fiber-optic gyros in July and another $1.7 million order for them in August, all from one or more unidentified “major defense contractors.” KVH said sales of the devices increased 70 percent during the first half of this year compared with 2008.
“KVH’s fiber-optic gyros are playing a critical role in the successful use of remote weapon stations to improve the safety of U.S. and allied warfighters as well as increase their efficiency and effectiveness in the field,” Jay Napoli, a KVH vice president, said in a statement.
(Patrick Spratt, KVH’s chief financial officer, explained how the devices work in a September interview with Providence Business News.)
Separately, KVH announced that it has expanded the Atlantic Ocean coverage area of its mini-VSAT Broadband services, which provides satellite telephone and Internet access to vessels.
The new coverage area reaches as far north as Greenland and Northern Europe and extends south to reach vessels traveling to the Mediterranean, Northwestern Africa, and approaching the northern coast of Brazil, KVH said.
The company announced in late August that the mini-VSAT network has been activated in Australian and New Zealand waters, marking the first significant expansion of the service in the southern hemisphere.
KVH has high hopes for the new mini-VSAT service and hopes to see it adopted by many commercial maritime companies. Copenhagen-based Clipper Marine Services A/S signed an agreement recently to outfit 22 of its tankers with the technology.
KVH also announced on Sept. 10 that Norm MacLeod, vice president of sales at ComMar Sales LLC in Tiverton, has received its annual award for sales representative of the year.
KVH reported a second-quarter profit of 1 cent per share on July 28, surprising Wall Street analysts who had forecast a net loss at the firm.
