According to the press-service of the French company Thales, it has made a contract with Rosoboronexport on supplying around 100 thermal vision cameras (Catherine FC model) to Russia for being set up on the Russian newest T-90 tanks.
      
      Catherine FC cameras provide effective target recognition in various lighting conditions of day and night. The cameras were designed for being set up in compact optoelectronic modules which can be placed on any kind of platforms and later be integrated in more complex informational systems of battle sites.
      
      Thales press-release marks that the recent contract is the first ever agreement on supplying production for the Russian Armed Forces by a foreign company. Purchasing western thermal vision cameras is seen as an important divide between the epochs. For a long time purchasing military inventory and equipment abroad was considered undesirable in the USSR and Russia due to formation of potential dependency on foreign providers.
      
      Note: Rosoboronexport State Corporation is a federal state unitary enterprise acting as the sole Russian state intermediary agency for export and import of military and dual-purpose products, technologies and services. The Enterprise was established by Russian President's Decree No. 1834 dated 4th November 2000. It carries out foreign trade operations related to defense products in pursuance of the governmental policy in the sphere of military-technical cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states.
      
      Source: rnd.cnews.ru