When Night Vision received a rude wake-up call, it answered the only way it knew how: with imagination, innovation and an unmatched desire to remain the industry leader in night vision technology. The shock came in 1998. After 13 years of receiving the major share -- and in some cases, the full share -- of the U.S. Army's multiyear Omnibus (OMNI) contracts for image intensifier devices, Night Vision learned it was being awarded only 40 percent of the OMNI V contract. The company had been blindsided by its primary competitor, who promised production of night vision devices featuring Generation 4 tubes. At the time, Gen 4 tubes offered significant performance improvements because they were "filmless," meaning that no ion barrier film was used on the microchannel plate. This was quite an engineering challenge. The film prevents ions, generated during normal tube operation, from damaging the photocathode and degrading tube performance. Elimination of the film would require an intense development effort -- first to reduce the number of ions generated during tube operation, and second, to develop a photocathode that was resistant to ion damage. Night Vision accelerated its filmless development program, and in February 2001, beat the competition by being the first to qualify a filmless tube for the U.S. Army. In the process of developing the filmless tube, however, Night Vision discovered that many improvements incorporated in the filmless tube also could be applied to a filmed Gen 3 tube by significantly "thinning" -- rather than totally removing -- the film. The result was Pinnacle™, a tube that achieved, and in some cases actually exceeded, Gen 4 level performance. After testing the Pinnacle tube, the U.S. Army agreed to convert the Omni V filmless contractual requirements to accept the Pinnacle technology. The Army also determined that filmless tubes no longer represent a leap in performance over filmed tubes and rescinded its "filmless" definition of Gen 4. At the same time, the competitor who had boldly promised filmless products repeatedly failed qualification testing. Suddenly, it became clear that Night Vision was again the true market leader, and the Pinnacle team then began racking up impressive contract wins. The U.S. Navy awarded Night Vision a $43 million contract. The Army increased Night Vision's share of the OMNI V contract options from 40 to 50 percent and later to 100 percent. In May 2002 the Army awarded Night Vision 100 percent of the OMNI VI contract for aviation and 60 percent (the maximum allowable percentage) for ground forces. U.S. military customers now regard the Pinnacle as their image intensifier of choice. "The Pinnacle team re-affirmed Night Vision's credibility with our number one customer -- not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of trust," says Night Vision President Gary Aicher. "The Army knows that it can depend on ITT to develop and deliver what we promise."			The Pinnacle Tube Development Team Night Vision Roanoke, Virginia Back Row: Left to right - Tom Peck, Rudy Benz, Keith Passmore, Doug Hollish, Dick Floryan Front Row: Left to right - Arlynn Smith, Randy Lundberg, Susan Tate, Nelson Devoe, Roger Voss