DSEI UK 2025: OpenWorks launches Vision Pace for air defence

OpenWorks Engineering will be presenting Vision Pace, its new optical system for air defence applications during DSEI UK 2025, which is being held from the 9-12 September in London. Vision Pace is an optical tracking system, designed to provide a stabilised platform for a sensor suite that can accurately track targets whilst the host platform is also mobile. 

“Vision Pace offers microradian precision targeting to kinetic defeat chains, marking a step-change for layered air defence,” a September 3 press release states. A microradian (μrad) is an extremely small unit of angular measurement. 1 radian is equal to approximately 57.3 degrees of a circle, a milliradian is 0.001 radians, and a microradian is 0.000001 radians. To put that into a more relatable context, one microradian is about the width of a human hair viewed from a distance of about 10 metres. The Vision Pace system is capable of providing this level of performance both in land and naval applications, according to OpenWorks Engineering.

Suffice to say the VisionPace system should allow for extremely precise tracking of a target. It achieves this through “its low friction direct-drive positioner and AI-powered stabilisation technology, leveraging OpenWorks’ proven and advanced AI classifiers and trackers,” OpenWorks explains.  

It can be fitted with optics from OpenWorks, but the system is designed with an open architecture allowing sensors from other providers to be fitted if required. To that end, the company has teamed with Thales to add the TrueHunter Gimbal Sight sensor head to Vision Pace. TrueHunter includes high-resolution daylight colour cameras, a cooled thermal imager (both with continuous zoom), SWIR sensor, laser rangefinder, laser pointer and a laser target designator. This is the same technology that is expected to be fielded in the UK’s Challenger 3. The Thales and OpenWorks partnership is also set to fuse inputs from an Echodyne radar, designed to round out the system’s air defence capabilities. 

“Combining Vision Pace and the TrueHunter Gimbal Sight sensor head will extend the application of both products, creating an optimal capability for ground- and mobile- air defence,” Graham Beall, Chief Business Development Officer at OpenWorks said. 

OpenWorks Engineering has recently expanded its team and production capacity in the north of the UK, with an increase in office and production floor space. This was announced alongside plans to invest £2 million per year in R&D, which was expected to be used for “developing capability for deployed troops, and enhancing stabilisation for detection on the move. Use cases include special operations, armoured vehicle protection and specialist applications for Ground Based Air Defence.” It appears that Vision Pace is one of the first outcomes of that increased focus on R&D. 

If you would like to learn more about Vision Pace and the other products from OpenWorks Engineering, you can visit their stand, N6-160, during DSEI. 

Calibre comment

Optical targeting for air defence is typically used by shorter range systems that engage within the operator’s line of sight. This might mean a cannon-based interceptor like the system offered by Moog for the UK’s SHORAD requirement, or a short-range missile like the Light Multi-Role Missile (LMM). Being able to accurately track a target is therefore key, as they may move very quickly in the case of rotary wing aircraft and loitering munitions, or very erratically in the case of small drones. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on September 5, 2025. Credit for the lead image, which shows an EO/IR suite mounted on Vision Pace is OpenWorks Engineering.