About Us

INTRODUCTION
Instro Precision Limited (Instro) is one of the leading suppliers and system integrators of support equipment for military and commercial electro-optical sensors in the world today. Instro is a well-established and experienced supplier of precision equipment with proven design expertise and demonstrable track record.

Instro’s leading position in the market has been developed over many years by focused attention to meeting customers' needs in offering rugged, reliable and dependable products and providing professional through life support.

Instro has considerable experience of working closely with major electro-optical equipment manufacturers as part of multi-national and integrated product teams and bringing Instro's real world experience to assist its customers to meet the demanding requirements of today's programs.

Instro products have been proven in forward observation, surveillance and reconnaissance missions by the military, paramilitary and civilian customers of more than 50 countries.

CURRENT NEWS
Instro’s newsletter ‘Insights’ is published periodically to ensure that our customers are kept up to date with current events and informed about new products and technologies.

To view the current newsletter, Click here.
If you would like to be added to the mailing list please click here.
If you would like to view the results of our 2010 customer satisfaction survey Click here.

COMPANY BROCHURE
Instro's current company brochure with product overview is available for online viewing and download by following the links below.

Company brochure, printer friendly

Company brochure, full colour

SPECIAL PROJECTS
Instro has secured funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP07) for a research and technology development project intended to improve the protection of critical infrastructure within the EU.

The iDetect4All project, aims to develop a system able to detect and authenticate objects and intruders with higher performance and lower cost than existing approaches. Based on an innovative and cost effective sensor technology developed and patented by Instro, the project will be carried out by a multi-national consortium.

More information regarding the iDetect4All project can be found on the project website: www.idetect4all.eu or by contacting John Morcom at Instro.

CORPORATE DETAILS
Full name:-
Instro Precision Limited (INSTRO)

Trading name:-
Instro Precision Limited

Registered office:-
Instro Precision Limited
15 Hornet close
Pysons Road Industrial Estate
Broadstairs
Kent
CT10 2YD
United Kingdom

Principal place of business:-
The above address

Structure:-
INSTRO is a UK registered limited company
[Registered in England No. 79472]
[VAT Registered No. GB 210 0251 49]

COMPANY HISTORY
Instro Precision Limited was founded in the sixties to produce quality engineered components to customer specification. From its early days, the company specialised in the field of precision optical survey and metrology instrumentation. Initially, the company limited its activities to the manufacture of individual components but, in response to customer requests, developed its capabilities to include the assembly and test of complete instruments.

In 1980, based upon the expertise gained from this activity, Instro began the development and manufacture of its own range of products. Initially the company developed tripod/head systems, including those used with the Rapier ground to air defence system and MSTAR ground surveillance radar for UK MoD requirements.
The product range was extended with the introduction of lightweight optical angulation heads to support laser rangefinders and thermal imaging or low light TV systems. For example, Instro supplied more than 360 tripod/angulation head assemblies for the UK MoD's Spyglass thermal imaging system in the mid eighties.

Since 1990, the company has developed and introduced a range of high performance motorised pan and tilt heads and digital angulation heads incorporating sophisticated angle measurement capabilities. These units are able to integrate data from a range of sensors such as thermal imagers, laser range-finders/ designators, global positioning systems and electronic compasses to calculate target co-ordinates and transmit this data to battlefield computers or via tactical radio systems.

In addition, INSTRO carried out complete instrument manufacture for one of the UK's leading optical metrology instrument makers. This includes the manufacture of highly accurate optical instruments such as collimators, auto-collimators and clinometers.

New products are constantly being developed to meet the needs of prime contractors and end users. Examples being lightweight, composite material based tripod / tracking heads for the US DoD's Lightweight Laser Designator / Rangefinder (LLDR) system, a lightweight mechanical pan and tilt with fine adjust capability, again for a major US program and tripod systems for the UK MoD's Javelin tripod system.

Due to the increased interest in surveillance and homeland security, our range of motorised pan and tilt heads and controller options has been gradually expanded. Instro currently offers remote surveillance solutions for applications ranging from truly man portable wireless systems for use with normally handheld sensors, through to systems for vehicle and maritime use along with stabilised variants and variants for use in autotracking applications.

The latest edition to Instro’s product portfolio is a series of laser range finder modules based on new patented technology. The units can be easily integrated into surveillance systems very efficiently and at low cost.

CAPABILITIES AND CAPACITY
In terms of capabilities, Instro currently employs 70+ people housed in freehold premises comprising 18,500 square feet. Instro has a full range of in-house design and manufacturing capabilities including:

3D solid modelling computer aided mechanical design (Solidworks CAD)
Finite element analysis (FEA)
3D computer aided manufacturing (CAM)
Electronics design
Software programming - both embedded micro-code and higher level languages
Metal machining - using CNC lathes, CNC mills and a variety of manual machines
Precision, instrument grade electro-opto-mechanical assembly
Limited environmental test facilities in-house (temperature) and access to full environmental test facilities through NAMAS test houses.

QUALITY SYSTEM
Instro's quality system is accredited to the internationally recognised ISO9001:2000 quality standard and is voluntarily subjected to routine, 6 monthly audit by SGS Yarsley, an independent assessor.

CUSTOMER BASE
As stated above, a key factor in INSTRO's product philosophy is that its products are specifically designed for the military environment rather than being derivatives of commercial grade equipment. This philosophy ensures that INSTRO products offer a low cost of ownership over their life.
The success of this philosophy may be judged by the fact that INSTRO has supplied many thousands of tripods and angulation heads into active military service in over 50 countries around the world. In doing so INSTRO have built an unequalled reputation in the field for the reliability, durability and dependability of its products and the quality of support provided to its customers.
INSTRO's customer base include many major defence manufacturers and prime contractors including Raytheon TI Systems (USA), British Aerospace (UK), Thomson CSF Optronic (France), Spar Aerospace Limited (Canada), Aselsan (Turkey), Samsung (Korea), GEC Marconi (UK), Litton Laser Systems (USA) and Thales Optronics (UK).

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, Instro is a well-established and experienced supplier of precision military equipment with proven design expertise and demonstrable track record. Instro's leading position in the market has been developed over many years by focused attention to meeting customers' needs in offering rugged, reliable and dependable products and providing professional through life support.

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