A high performance LWIR(long wavelength infra red) zoom thermal imaging sensor using $480{ imes}6$ HgCdTe(MCT) linear detector has been developed by ADD Korea. The optical system consists of zoom telescope having large objective about 190 mm diameter and optically well corrected scanning system. The zoom ratio of the telescope is 3: 1 and its magnification change is performed by moving two lens groups. And also these moving groups are used for athermalization of the system. It is certain that the zoom sensor can be used in wide operating temperature range without any degradation of the system performance. Especially, the sensor image can be displayed with the HDTV(high definition television) format of which aspect ratio is 16:9. In case of HDTV format, the scanning system is able to display 620,000 pixels. This function can make wider horizontal field of view without any loss of performance than the normal TV format image. The MRTD(minimum resolvable temperature difference) of the LWIR thermal imaging sensor shows good results below 0.04 K at spatial frequency 2 cycles/mrad and 0.23 K at spatial frequency 8 cycles/mrad at the narrow field of view.