Posted on 08/31/2007 12:35:45 PM PDT by nypokerface
LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- BAE Systems said this week it has won a contract to design and develop new night-vision goggles for the U.S. Army.
The company said it won the contract to create new digitally enhanced night-vision goggle for the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program.
"This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants," BAE Systems said in a statement Monday.
"The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. This digital technology will provide improved image quality and will enable imagery to be shared among soldiers, improving platoon effectiveness," the company said.
“This program will demonstrate the maturity and effectiveness of digital fusion technology and its benefit to the war fighter,” said Margaret Kohin, Advanced Systems program director for BAE Systems in Lexington, Mass. “Applying innovative technology to help our soldiers complete their missions is an objective BAE Systems stands behind every day.”
BAE Systems said the contract would be administered by the Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Va.
"BAE Systems will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle. This technology also is used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army. BAE Systems has two microbolometer foundries and has delivered more than 50,000 microbolometer-based imagers to date," the company said.
Generation I night vision equipment is now available commercially and to the general public for less than $300, and can be lots of fun at night in the woods. The new goggles will, I believe, be Generation IV. Generation III equipment is also available to the general public, but costs upward of $2000; I wonder if it’s that much better for the average user - does anyone know?
Thermal imaging is the real cool stuff....hard to find anything decent for under $8000.00 though....
American made! Good deal!
BAE Systems is just a Europe front company.
Question:
Do wearers of night vision devices suffer temporary “night blindness” immediately after a bright flash of light, as from a blast, headlights, tracer rounds, etc.....?
If so — how long?
Without the devices — this was a VERY prevalent problem “in the day” -— and resulted in a number of unfortunate consequences.....
/s
It seems like this would be an easy problem to solve. Music studios use audio compression to limit spikes in the sound level. Shouldn’t be too big a deal to do the same with video.
What’s thermal imaging? I don’t know what that is...
It has done contract work for US before, including escape windows for the up armored Humvees.
When you say that it’s “just a Europe front company”, I get the impression that you don’t particularly care for them.
If you have information on this company you’d like to share, I’d be interested in hearing it. I think it’s important to have our military equipment built by Americans or trustworthy allies.
Thermal imaging technology lets one see (temperature differences) in total darkness.
The more “conventional” type of night vision relies on amplification of existing light. Gen IV is pretty amazing, but technically still ineffective in total darkness without some source of artificial (man made, beyond the spectrum of light that humans can detect) illumination.
I have used thermal imaging for industrial and safety purposes as well. One application is identifying overheating electrical equipment (overheating from a bad electrical contact shows up prominently). Another is a fire department application - instead of having to waste time bashing through ALL the sheetrock, scan the walls to look for hot spots. Even a one degree difference shows up on the false color image.
Thanks for the explanation - and the link. That was very... illuminating. :-)
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