Santa Barbara Infrared, Inc.

Santa Barbara Infrared, Inc., a division of Heico Corp, manufactures specialized infrared, electro-optical, and optical test instrumentation and components for the Department of Defense and federal agencies, operating as a prime contractor on 92% of recent awards with no SBA set-aside designations or small-business certifications. The company competes full-and-open on technical merit and OEM status, generating 237 awards (prime and sub combined) with $61.9 million in combined potential value across defense and aerospace customers. Place of performance is located in Santa Barbara, California, with work extending to Navy and Air Force test facilities including Edwards Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base, and Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane.

Santa Barbara Infrared's capability portfolio centers on infrared scene projectors (ISP), blackbody calibration and test equipment, optical collimators and integrating spheres, infrared cryogenic emitters, sensor retrofit kits, and mission-critical optical assemblies for weapons system evaluation and hardware-in-the-loop simulation. Representative prime work includes a $2.689 million definitive contract with the Air Force Test Center (awarded September 2022, completion July 2026) for five High Output Temperature Infrared Cryogenic Emitter (HOT ICE) infrared scene projector systems serving the Guided Weapons Evaluation Facility at Eglin Air Force Base; a $1.717 million purchase order from the Air Force (May 2026) for the OptiCAMS Improvement and Modernization Program at Edwards Air Force Base; and a $1.362 million firm fixed price contract from the Air Force (September 2024) for a Large-Format Infrared Scene Projector system for hardware-in-the-loop applications. These awards frequently carry sole-source justifications citing Santa Barbara Infrared's proprietary designs and OEM status for specialized optical benches and sensor systems.

Customer concentration skews heavily toward defense with secondary naval exposure. The Marine Corps (29 awards, $2.7 million combined potential value), the Department of the Air Force across all offices (25 awards, $3.1 million), and Naval Air Systems Command (21 awards, $2.2 million) and Naval Sea Systems Command (21 awards, $2.2 million) account for 49% of awards by count. By dollar value, Air Force Materiel Command and its subordinate Research Laboratory dominate the top tier, accounting for approximately 45% of combined potential value through two major dollars awards ($9.9 million) and nine smaller awards ($9.1 million) respectively. A second concentration band includes the Air Force Materiel Command Test Center ($2.9 million across nine awards), the Marine Corps ($2.7 million), and Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Sea Systems Command (each $2.2 million). The vendor has served 36 distinct customer agencies, with long-tail exposure to the National Gallery of Art, the Army Communications Electronics Command, and Naval Supply Systems Command, but no civilian GSA, NASA, or civilian agency footprint in recent awards.

Santa Barbara Infrared places task orders under Navy and Air Force indefinite delivery contracts rather than government-wide acquisition vehicles. The top parent vehicles include Navy IDC N0016415DJQ79 (10 task orders, $330 thousand combined value), Air Force IDC F4160898D0146 (6 task orders), Navy IDC N6833520D0935 (5 task orders), and Navy IDCs N0016401D0037 and N0016407D8501 (3 task orders each, $1.7 million combined). No GWAC, GSA Schedule, or multi-agency vehicle presence appears in the top-five parent vehicles, indicating a prime-contractor footprint built on legacy single-agency IDCs and spot buys rather than governmentwide vehicles.

Activity has contracted since 2022. Awards peaked at ten in 2022, declining to seven in 2023, recovering to twelve in 2024, then dropping to five in 2025 and two in 2026 (source snapshot through May 2026). The recompete cliff over the next twenty-four months shows minimal risk: only one award ($1.7 million combined potential value) faces ultimate completion in that window. This low near-term recompete exposure reflects a mature, stable installed base of older awards with completion dates extending into 2026 and beyond, rather than a current pipeline of opportunity.

As a subcontractor, Santa Barbara Infrared delivers infrared test equipment, optical systems, calibration services, and sensor retrofits to Lockheed Martin (primary engagement, eight sub awards including critical design review and system integration for the EOTB EO4 console and dual-blackbody systems, with incremental funding and administrative modifications through 2025), Raytheon (recertified and modernized missile test equipment and administrative modifications, four sub awards), Boeing (F/A-18 IRST target module aerospace support), Amentum Services (maritime electro-optic infrared systems development), Leidos (threat assessment and aircraft protection defensive electronic warfare sensors), The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and HX5 LLC. Subcontract work (18 awards, 8% of portfolio) centers on system integration, non-recurring engineering, and specialized optical calibration for large defense primes rather than component supply.

The corporate structure comprises Heico Corp (parent) and two manufacturing subsidiaries: Ircamera LLC and Sensor Technology Engineering LLC. Top NAICS categories are Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing (53 awards), Instruments and Related Products Manufacturing for Measuring and Controlling Industrial Process Variables (47 awards), and Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (20 awards). Top PSC codes are Night Vision Equipment, Emitted and Reflected Radiation (27 awards) and Optical Instruments, Test Equipment, Components and Accessories (24 awards), reflecting the vendor's positioning as a specialized optical and electro-optical test-equipment manufacturer for defense and aerospace rather than a broad IT, professional services, or logistics provider.