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Leading manufacturer of infrared detectors, Sofradir, has announced its merger with its own subsidiary and a leading expert of infrared technologies, ULIS. The merged entity has been named Lynred and will respond to a need for an all-inclusive infrared (IR) product offering to the global aerospace, defense, industrial and consumer markets. In response to increasing market requirements, the company has attained a critical mass geared to shortening the time-to-market process of new products. Its US entity remains a subsidiary and has been renamed Lynred USA.

Lynred is the new identity under which its 1,000 staff will provide the widest range of advanced IR technologies to global markets, assure a long-term and reliable product supply and accompany client projects with the best possible IR design and equipment integration support. The company will enter the market with a new vision for the future in an increasingly competitive market, which has seen the number of players double over the last five years.

Lynred is actively pursuing growth in this market. The world military infrared imaging systems market is estimated at $8.5 billion (approx. €7.6bn) in 2018 and is expected to grow to $14 billion (approx. €12.5bn) in 2023. Extrapolated market data also indicates that the market of cameras for industrial and consumer applications has the potential to increase from $2.9 (approx. €2.6bn) to $4.1 billion (€3.7bn) for the same periodic. This translates to a global potential annual market growth rate of around 10% at camera and system level.

Lynred will advance developments of next generation IR detectors with the €150 million ($167.4M) financial investment it is making in the Nano2022 project over the next five years. These IR devices will be designed to address trends in autonomous systems for smart buildings (workspace management, energy savings), road safety and in-cabin comfort of vehicles. Developments also include the very large dimension IR detectors needed for space and astronomy observations as well as compact and light IR detectors that can be used in portable devices and on drones.