Enhanced Night Vision Goggle

Army News Service ^ | 30 March 2009 | staff

[gandalftb]

Soldiers now have a leap-ahead new tool that will enhance their ability to see in total darkness: the AN/PSQ-20 Enhanced Night Vision Goggle.

About 300 sets of the new night-vision goggles were fielded to the 10th Mountain Division in February 2009, the first unit other than Special Forces to use the goggles.

The ENVG is a helmet-mounted passive image intensification and thermal device that incorporates both I2 and long-wave infrared sensors into a single integrated system. It weighs two pounds, including the battery pack which uses four AA batteries, the helmet mount, and wiring harness.

Feasibility studies resulted in a concept to combine a thermal camera with enhanced image intensification into an integrated helmet-borne system, something that would allow Soldiers literally to see through total darkness while still enabling them to see details and to use weapon-mounted aiming lasers.

The ENVG also facilitates faster threat recognition and thereby reduces the possibility of collateral damage and fratricide, PEO-Soldier officials said.

http://www.vimeo.com/4532787

https://peosoldier.army.mil/newpeo/Equipment/Temp.asp?id=sms_envg

[Squantos]

LOL.....yeah. Took too long a nap after work this afternoon and can’t sleep......yet !

Just getting ready to hit the hay , sorry I missed ya this PM.

Have a safe weekend !

[gandalftb]

Temp is irrelevant as long as the temps are changing as they do in the desert. The scope resolution is based on a contrast of thermal radiation from nearby objects. When there is a lot of humidity or fog and temps tend to balance out, the view gets muddy. Cold air does create much bigger contrasts and you can turn down the gain and really see well.

Hotter temps do create thermal currents that obscure, not much of a problem at night.

There is still a window of time at sunrise and sunset that viewing is difficult.

[Travis McGee]

I try to stay current with the tech in my fiction writing. In my latest I'm working on, the protag is a former Marine, who uses a monocular night scope and an IR pointer on his rifle. If you get time, see if I make too many errors here. It's been decades since I was an operator.

"Castigo Cay," extended excerpt.

[gandalftb]

The catch phrase is overmatching the enemy. There are coming advances with a fusion scope using a .1 lux CMOS. I was issued a .2 lux CMOS HD video cam and with no IR or I2 illumination could see better than the naked eye in the dark, very cool, mini USB, sat uplink, you're on candid camera in the Pentagon, Obama can call the trigger pulls....

Going totally passive with no telltale signals is a very near reality.

[Travis McGee]

I’m all about overmatch. In my novels, the UAVs have come home, and are searching out curfew-breaking patriots. Overmatch is great when you have it, not so great when you are playing the “G.”

[gandalftb]

You are definitely dialed in, I purposely did not mention the IR laser. It’s now deployed and a crowd pleaser, we are integrating it into shoulder-fired missile and JDAM targeting. No more red laser beams either giving us away or can’t be seen in daylight.

[Future Snake Eater]

Depends on the target(s). Thank God the hajis don’t know what I know, or we’d be screwed in-country.

[Travis McGee]

Is the PAQ-4 still in use, or the 22? I’m not really in any loop, I just hear stuff here and there, but not verifiable.

[Travis McGee]

Are you still a future snake eater, or a current one by now???

[Future Snake Eater]

Nope, life happened, I’m now a BDE-level computer guy (on R&R right now from my BDE’s Afghanistan deployment), married, with two little girls. I’ve emailed JohnRob a couple of times to change my handle, but I guess he’s busy!

How’s the authoring biz?

[Travis McGee]

Well I’m glad you have a familia. Nothing in life is worth more than that. The authoring biz is pretty good and getting better. Check out that Castigo Cay (next book) link up thread a few, let me know what you think if you get a chance.