An unidentified Middle Eastern country has contracted Airbus Defense and Space for long-range opto-electric/infrared imaging system for use on its borders.

The system to be supplied by Airbus DS' Optronics business is the Z:NightOwl M, a surveillance system specifically developed for extremely long-range observation purposes.

Airbus DS said the system provides a very large field of view for wide-area observation and detection, coupled with an extremely small field of view for identification.

"It ... fulfills the highest requirements for the seamless protection of land and maritime borders," Airbus DS said. "The system has furthermore been designed with warmer climates in mind so as to deliver optimal vision at long ranges even under adverse conditions such as air turbulence and haze."

The Z:NightOwl M uses a third-generation ATTICA M-ER thermal imager with a megapixel detector and laser rangefinder. It offers extreme magnification through a 200x continuous zoom and can be equipped with a near-infrared or a short-wave infrared camera.

The number of units to be supplied is "large," and company said, while the contract is worth "tens of millions" of dollars.