East Fishkill, NY – U.S. Rep. John Hall (D-Dover) announced today that he has secured House approval of $3 Million in additional funding towards the development of next-generation night vision goggles for American troops. The technology is being developed by eMagin Corporation, which is located in East Fishkill, NY. Congressman Hall worked to insert the funding into the fiscal year 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill, which passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. The project has previously received $2.4 million, secured by Congressman Hall in 2007, and has received additional financial support from the U.S. Army. The potential funding being announced today would allow for this vital long term research and development project to continue.

 

Congressman Hall is now working with Senator Schumer's office to ensure that this critical funding is included in the Senate version of the bill, and is signed into law by President Obama.

 

"eMagin is developing technology that will provide radically better night vision equipment for our troops. This is cutting-edge defense technology that will be made right here in the Hudson Valley," said Congressman Hall. "Continuing federal assistance to this project will provide lifesaving new equipment to our troops overseas, while helping create and maintain high tech jobs in the region."

 

"We are very pleased the Congress has recognized the importance of the research and development eMagin is conducting at our facility in Hopewell Junction, New York," said Susan Jones, co-founder and Executive Vice President of eMagin Corporation. "We are extremely grateful for the support we have received from Congressman John Hall.  Funding for these projects will bring cutting edge technology to our soldiers in the field and help us continue to bring high tech jobs to the Hudson Valley."

 

eMagin Corporation will use this federal funding to continue to develop Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology, towards the goal of a more powerful OLED microdisplay device. This would replace currently used night vision goggles which require bulky equipment, frequent battery changes and stable weather conditions in order to function properly. eMagin's OLED microdisplays' harness recent technological breakthroughs in consumer electronics to create a new visual chip which provides an image resolution several times higher in quality and clarity than that of a high definition LCD screen. eMagin's OLED microdisplays are fully powered by a battery smaller in size than a watch battery – one tenth of the power required by older systems – and can endure extremely harsh weather conditions.

 

eMagin Corporation's manufacturing and research and development operations are located in the IBM East Fishkill Campus, which Congressman Hall has been working to help turn into a center for the new high tech economy in the Hudson Valley. SpectraWatt, a developer of solar cells, is currently in the process of setting up operations on the campus.

 

"This project unleashes Hudson Valley ingenuity to keep our troops safe and expand our ability to defend America and fight terrorism," Hall added. "These are the exact new economy jobs that we are working to attract to the Hudson Valley."

 

The Defense Appropriations Act makes critical investments in the health, well-being and readiness of our armed forces. It includes a 3.4% pay raise for military personnel and supports military family advocacy programs. It also continues efforts to end the practice of "stop loss" and pays troops an additional $500 for every month their term of service is involuntarily extended by that practice. To achieve fiscal responsibility, the legislation reigns in outsourcing and puts Defense personnel, not contractors, in charge of critical department functions.

 

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