On June 20, 2010 the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded a $11,086,074 contract (PA # 88ABW-2011-1990) to SCHOTT North America, Inc. to support the production of high homogeneity optical glass (HHOG). HHOG blanks are the basic building blocks in the fabrication of high precision optical lens systems, which are key technology drivers for several commercial, defense, and national-security related applications.
 
The primary goals of this project include increasing manufacturing capacity, optimizing production yields to greater than 70%, and ensuring greater availability of non-active and active HHOG products. The project comes under the authority of the Defense Production Act (DPA), Title III of which authorizes the granting of incentives to create, maintain, protect, expand, or restore the productive capacities of domestic sources for critical components, critical technology items, and industrial resources essential for the execution of the national security strategy of the United States. The principal objective of all DPA Title III investments is to strengthen and expand these domestic productive capacities and to ensure government access to critical technology items well into the future.