TOBYHANNA -- Employees at the Tobyhanna Army Depot are bringing light to the night in their electro-optics night vision department.
If you step inside the electro-optics division of the Tobyhanna Army Depot, it wouldn't take you long to realize these defense systems are more than just really expensive cameras.
"They'll look for IEDs and things of that nature because it can detect when the earth has been disturbed or any objects because of temperature differential," explained electronics mechanic James Bamert.
Assembled and repaired at Tobyhanna, the remote weapon nicknamed CROWS is just one of several machines officials at Tobyhanna allowed us to see. It's meant to allow a soldier to identify and target an enemy.
"This is a game changer. It allows us to engage targets at a farther distance than a manually sighted weapon," Bamert said.
"Things have gotten smaller, tighter, more complicated," said Gean Bechthold, the branch chief of Nightvision & Guidance Control System.
It's pieces of equipment like vehicle optics sensor systems that workers at Tobyhanna say are critical to the safety of soldiers out in the field.
"It has color, night vision, infrared," said electronics technician Scott Marino.
And that helps soldiers know what surrounds them all the time.
"It means the world to me, quite honestly. I get to help people that are in harm's way every day," Bamert said.
Ed Gerrity grew up in Scott Township and says he's amazed seeing his work used across the globe, and used by some familiar faces, too.
"It's a little special to me. I have friends that go use these. I use them. My friends use them. To put them in a situation where it keeps them out of harm's way, I get a warm and fuzzy for that."
Right now, his focus is on a long-range scout system, a system that is capable of seeing the Waymart and Noxen wind farm all the way from Tobyhanna.
"This gives us the ability to see the enemy before he sees us and not only see them, but get a location to the enemy."
Going forward, branch chief Gean Bechthold says the department will focus on creating more partnerships as technology continues to open them up to new opportunities.
"We started with the Army, work with the Navy, Air Force, now Border Patrol," said Bechthold. "I see us expanding as the technology is expanding. We're moving to those areas. Much like the drone technology is expanding, night vision is expanding. There's a lot of applications out there that maybe 20 years ago, weren't even thought about."