ASTROHN Technology ltd. in Military Acceptance – a TV-show on Zvezda TV-channel

It is a marvel that having reprofiled these enterprises continue to fulfill the state defense order, so getting weaker is not about us.

We are all get used to the fact that thermal imaging cameras had been previously imported from France or the United States. The heart of the issue is the lenses: the smaller the microbubbles in the glass are, the higher the quality is. The solution has been found in Lytkarino, near Moscow, in ASTROHN technology ltd. in collaboration with an optical glass factory. Here they have learned how to make infrared lenses that can form an image of an object located at a distance of 35 km. The secret to success is single-crystal lenses.

We are in the germanium growing site, and I have in my hands a newly-grown, this morning, a single crystal. It will be enough to make about 20-15 lenses for the thermal imager lens.

Vladimir PopovGeneral Director - ASTROHN Technology ltd.

A future lens originates in these furnaces. The process is more like smelting a workpiece than growing a crystal. The molten mass is stirred, and it takes its shape and size. They can be large or very tiny, no larger than a SIM card for a smartphone. Further, the germanium blanks are transferred to the optical area, where they are ground and mirror polished.

This room is especially clean, the cleanliness class is sixth, so even I can’t come inside it now, and, unfortunately, I can’t let you in too. Specialists work here. They wear, you see, absolutely clean clothes, then they take them off and throw them away, and put on new ones. Every time – new clothes, to maintain ultra-cleanliness.

Vladimir PopovGeneral Director - ASTROHN Technology ltd.

People on the other side of the window are easy to confuse with doctors of the infectious unit: the same disposable protective suits, masks, gloves. This plant in Lytkarino near Moscow also does a lot for the defense industry. Its portfolio includes portholes for a Buran space ship, and glass for large telescopes. In civil life, Lytkarino thermal imagers perfectly perform the function of law enforcement. At night, an ordinary camera cannot detect the intruders, while the thermal imager can, as, for example, in these frames where people with weapons are recorded, or in these where the thermal imager recognizes a kid playing on the railway tracks. Well, currently, task No. 1 for the plant is coronavirus.

This time, we are actively working on anti-coronavirus devices. They have a small range of action, but the pinpoint accuracy.

Vladimir PopovGeneral Director - ASTROHN Technology ltd.