Optex Systems Holdings, Inc manufactures optical sighting systems and assemblies for the U.S. Department of Defense, foreign military applications, commercial markets, and consumer markets with the recent acquisition of the Speedtracker Mach product line.
The company’s products are installed on a variety of U.S. military land vehicles, such as the Abrams, Bradley, and Stryker families of fighting vehicles, as well as light armored and advanced security vehicles. The company also manufactures an...
Optex Systems Holdings, Inc manufactures optical sighting systems and assemblies for the U.S. Department of Defense, foreign military applications, commercial markets, and consumer markets with the recent acquisition of the Speedtracker Mach product line.
The company’s products are installed on a variety of U.S. military land vehicles, such as the Abrams, Bradley, and Stryker families of fighting vehicles, as well as light armored and advanced security vehicles. The company also manufactures and delivers numerous periscope configurations, rifle and surveillance sights, and night vision optical assemblies. The company’s products consist primarily of build-to-customer print products that are delivered both directly to the armed services and to other defense prime contractors. The company continues to field new product opportunities from both domestic and international customers.
Products
The company’s products are installed on various types of U.S. military land vehicles, such as the Abrams, Bradley, and Stryker families of fighting vehicles, as well as light armored and armored security vehicles. The company also manufactures and delivers numerous periscope configurations, rifle and surveillance sights, and night vision optical assemblies. The company delivers its products both directly to the federal government and to prime contractors.
In addition, the company offers military specification (‘mil-spec’) quality High Efficiency Anti-Reflective Coatings for infrared applications in both the military and commercial markets. These coatings are manufactured at the Applied Optics Center (‘AOC’) Division of the company in Dallas, Texas.
The company delivers high-volume products, under multi-year contracts, to large defense contractors and government customers. Increased emphasis in the past several years has been on new opportunities to promote and deliver the company’s products in foreign military sales, where U.S.-manufactured combat and wheeled vehicles are supplied (and upgraded) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense. The company has a reputation for quality and credibility with its customers as a strategic supplier. The company also anticipates the opportunity to integrate some of its night vision and optical sights products into commercial applications.
Specific product categories by product line include:
Periscopes: Laser & Non-Laser Protected Plastic & Glass Periscopes, Electronic M17 Day/Thermal Periscopes, and Vision Blocks.
Sighting Systems: Back Up Sights, Digital Day and Night Sighting Systems (‘DDAN’), M36 Thermal Periscope, Unity Mirrors, Optical Weapon System Support and Maintenance (‘OWSS’), Commander Weapon Station Sight (‘CWSS’), and Sight Assembly Refurbishment (‘GOI MOD/Aquila’).
Howitzers: M137 Telescope, M187 Mount, M119 Aiming Device, and XM10 Aiming Circle.
Other: Muzzle Reference Systems (‘MRS’), Binoculars, Collimators, Speedtracker, Optical Lenses & Elements, and Windows.
Applied Optics Center: Laser Interference Filter (‘LIF’), Optical Assemblies, Laser Filter Units (‘LFU’), Reticles, Day Windows, Binoculars, and Specialty Thin Film Coatings.
Contracts
The company is subject to, and must comply with, various laws and governmental regulations that impact, among other things, the company’s revenue, operating costs, profit margins, and the internal organization and operation of its business. The material laws and regulations affecting the company’s U.S. government business are Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA).
The U.S. Military
During the twelve months ended September 29, 2024, approximately 84% of the company’s business was in support of U.S. military products. The company provides periscopes, collimator assemblies, vision blocks, and laser interface filters to the U.S. armed forces on almost all of the ground system platforms.
The Applied Optics Center supports numerous other military platforms outside of the ground system vehicles budget, such as infantry rifle scopes, night vision monoculars, infantry and navy binoculars, night goggles, and infrared aircraft filters. The Applied Optics Center has seen a substantial increase in orders from new and existing customers in support of the other platforms.
Foreign Military
The company’s products directly support FMS combat vehicles globally, including Canada, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt, South America, and Israel. The company has increased efforts to promote its proven military products, as well as newly improved product solutions directly to foreign military representatives and domestic defense contractors supporting the FMS initiatives.
The company was successful with the Israeli Ministry of Defense (‘IMOD’) in refurbishing a small quantity of their Night Vision Rifle Scopes.
The company began deliveries against the contract during the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. The company is also exploring possibilities to adapt some of its products for commercial use in those markets that demonstrate potential for solid revenue growth, both domestically and internationally.
Commercial
The company’s products are currently sold to military and related government markets. The company’s initial focus will be directed in four product areas.
Big Eye Binoculars — While the military application produced is based on mature military designs, the company owns all castings, tooling, and glass technology. These large fixed mount binoculars could be sold to cruise ships, personal yachts, and cities/municipalities. The binoculars are also applicable to fixed, land-based outposts for private commercial security, as well as border patrols and regional law enforcement.
Thin Film Coatings — The acquisition of the Applied Optics Center also creates a new sector of opportunity for commercial products for the company. Globally, commercial optical products use thin film coatings to create product differentiation. These coatings can be used for redirecting light (mirrors), blocking light (laser protection), absorbing select light (desired wavelengths), and many other combinations. They are used in telescopes, rifle scopes, binoculars, microscopes, range finders, protective eyewear, photography, etc. Given this broad potential, the commercial applications are a key opportunity going forward.
Optical Assemblies – Through the Applied Optics Center, the company is utilizing its experience in military sighting systems to pursue commercial opportunities associated with products that incorporate multi-lens optical cell assemblies, bonded optical elements, and mechanical assemblies. There are a wide variety of products in the medical, machine vision, automotive, and outdoor recreation fields that can benefit from the company’s capabilities. Support to domestic customers for these types of products has driven significant increases in Applied Optics Segment sales during the last five years.
Optex Outdoors – This launch brings military-grade optical technology directly to civilian marksmen and extreme long-range competitors, expanding Optex’s reach beyond its traditional military market. The Optex Outdoors webstore offers a curated selection of advanced optical products, including riflescope prisms, chronographs, and stabilized viewing products—designed specifically for the needs of elite shooters and outdoor enthusiasts. Each product is engineered and built in Richardson, Texas.
Customer Base
The company serves customers in four primary categories: as a prime defense contractor (Defense Logistics Agency (‘DLA’) Land and Maritime, DLA Warren, DLA Aviation, the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps), as a defense subcontractor (General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, Elbit Systems, BAE, Sig Sauer, Enterprise Cabling, and Vortex Optics), as a military supplier to foreign governments (Israel, Australia, South America, and Canada), and as a commercial optical assembly supplier (Nightforce Optics, Gables Engineering). During the twelve months ended September 29, 2024, the company derived approximately 77% of its gross business revenue from six major customers: U.S. government agencies (20%), four U.S. defense contractors (25%, 7%, 6%, and 6%), and one major commercial customer (13%). The company has approximately 150 discrete contracts for items that are utilized in vehicles, optical product lines, and as spare parts.
Marketing Plan
The company’s focus is on its four basic approaches for sales and development:
Sell existing products to existing customers
US Army Central Command - Periscopes, Back Up Sights, Binoculars, Vision Blocks, and Laser Filter Units.
GDLS - Periscopes, Collimators.
BAE – Periscopes.
L3 - Laser Interface Filters.
DLA - Optical Elements.
Sell existing products to new customers
Commercial - Optical Lens, and Spotting Scopes Monocular Lens.
The U.S. Prime Contractor - Laser Filter Units.
Develop new products to meet the needs of the company’s existing customers
The US Army Central Command – Binoculars.
GDLS - DDAN, and OWSS.
Commercial - Optical Lens Reticles.
Develop new products to meet the needs of new customers
Israel - GOI MOD/Aquila.
The U.S. Prime Contractor - XM10 Aiming Circle.
Commercial - Optical Lens, Spotting Scopes, Monocular Lens, Chronographs, and Optical Wedges.
Intellectual Property
Patents
The company possesses three utility patents and three design patents. The company has filed two new patent applications which are currently under review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. These are for an Improved Next Shot Compensation System for Weapons (patent application number 18651580) and a Laser Filter Antenna (patent application number 18809740).
The following patents generally expire 20 years after issuance.
On April 4, 2023, the company was issued U.S. Patent No. 11,619,824 B2 titled ‘Selectable Offset Image Wedge’, which is a mechanical wedge used to offset the image anywhere in the selectable range of circular travel within the defined offset field of view. This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent No. 10,324,298 and claims priority to U.S. Patent No. 10,324,298, issued on June 18, 2019.
On November 4, 2021, the company was issued U.S. Patent No. 2021/0341746A1 titled ‘Selectable Offset Image Wedge’, which is a mechanical wedge used to offset the image anywhere in the selectable range of circular travel within the defined offset field of view. This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent No. 10,324,298 and claims priority to U.S. Patent No. 10,324,298, issued on June 18, 2019.
On June 18, 2019, the company was issued U.S. Patent No. 10,324,298 titled ‘Offset Image Wedge with Dual Capability and Alignment Technique’. The invention relates to an offset image wedge for use on a bore-sighted rifle mounted directly onto the scope via a clamp mounting device. The wedge allows for a dual image which can be aligned in the field and provides the user with a choice of either a bore-sighted image or an offset image without removing the wedge.
On July 11, 2017, the company was issued U.S. Patent No. D791,852 S, for the company’s Red Tail Digital Spotting Scope. The company has a retail sales relationship with Cabela’s Inc. and Amazon to distribute these scopes. They are currently the only digital spotting scope offered by Cabela’s. The company’s Red Tail Digital Spotting Scopes also received a favorable review from Trigger Magazine in 2017.
In May 2015, the company announced the issuance to it of U.S. Patent No. 13,792,297 titled ‘ICWS Periscope’. This invention improves previously accepted levels of periscope performance that, in turn, improve soldier’s safety.
In December 2013, Optex Systems, Inc. was issued U.S. Patent No. 23,357,802 titled ‘Multiple Spectral Single Image Sighting System Using Single Objective Lens Set.’ The technology platform, designed for the company’s DDAN program, is applicable to all ground combat vehicles used by the U.S. and foreign militaries. This technology is applicable to many sighting systems, and it has already been designed for implementation on the Light Armored Vehicles, the Armored Security Vehicle, the Amphibious Assault Vehicle, and the M60 Main Battle Tank. DDAN technology has advanced the capabilities of these installed weapon systems and is the first in a series of patents the company has applied for to protect its Intellectual Property portfolio in support of the warfighters who use these systems.
Licenses
In May 2012, the company purchased a perpetual, non-exclusive license, with a single up-front license fee of $200,000 to use Patent 7,880,792 ‘Optical and Infrared Periscope with Display Monitor’ (issued in 2011 and owned by Synergy International Optronics, LLC). The current estimated active M113 APC worldwide inventory is over 80,000 units. This licensing of this patent allows the company to develop additional products for this vehicle type, including the M17 Day/Thermal and M17 Day/Night periscopes. The company is actively marketing the new periscopes internationally and completed its first international shipment utilizing this technology in March 2014.
Competition
The Applied Optics Center thin film and laser coatings products compete primarily with Materion-Barr, Artemis, and Alluxa.
History
Optex Systems Holdings, Inc, a Delaware corporation, was founded in 1987. The company was incorporated in 2006.
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