ITT Night Vision, based in Roanoke County, has landed another multimillion dollar military contract to supply night vision equipment. The customer this time is the U.S. Special Operations Command, which is responsible for supporting the nation's special operations forces.

With the U.S. military fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and serving elsewhere, ITT Night Vision, a division of international giant ITT Corp., continues full-bore production of night vision gear and has backlogs during a time when many other regional manufacturers have cut hours and employees.

The high-tech manufacturer has nearly 1,500 employees and is "selectively hiring," said Steve Brecken, a company spokesman. In December 2008, the company had about 1,400 workers, up from about 1,000 employees in 2005.

Most hourly workers are members of IUE-CWA union Local 82162.

The command's order is for image intensification tubes for existing night vision goggles. ITT Night Vision touts its Generation 3 tubes as the most advanced night vision technology available.

Night vision goggles equipped with the tubes can detect available light "with more than 10 times the power of previous generations," according to ITT.

The company says the tubes provide a tactical advantage during "critical precision night-time missions."

Brecken said the contract with the Special Operations Command is independent of the "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity" omnibus contract awarded in September 2005 by the U.S. Army for night vision products, including goggles, monoculars, image intensifying tubes and other gear. That contract has a total potential value of nearly $1.4 billion.