DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., was awarded a $6.3 million contract to develop a near-midwavelength IR active detection receiver system that will be based on the company’s HgCdTe electron avalanche photodiode focal plane array technology. The receiver will be an ultrasensitive IR system designed for use with a laser illumination source for detecting land-based threats. The US Air Force Research Laboratory, with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, granted the contract, which is sponsored by DARPA. DRS is scheduled to deliver the receiver by November 2008.