The agreement with ISRO’s Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad will see Paris-based Sofradir deliver flight models of the company’s large-format 1000x256 Saturn ShortWave InfraRed (SWIR) detectors to support India’s hyperspectral Earth observation satellite program.

Sofradir has a more than a 25% share by volume for supplying second-generation mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) IR sensors used in thermal imagers, missile seekers, infantry fighting vehicles and other surveillance, targeting and homing infrared equipment, as well as Earth-observation satellites. In the last four years, Sofradir has delivered 10 Saturn SWIR flight models to aerospace companies.

The contract is Sofradir’s first for flight models with the Space Applications Center, company chairman and CEO Philippe Bensussan said in a news release. The deal is the culmination of years of close cooperation with ISRO that included delivering IR detectors for ground testing, he said.