The panoramic night vision device is a relatively advanced night vision equipment in modern military equipment. It has an ultra-wide field of view of 97 degrees, which can significantly enhance the ability to obtain information at night and help quickly judge the enemy situation and make decision-making strikes. Due to its high weight and price, this type of night vision device is usually only equipped with the most elite special forces.
Night vision goggles technology battle in the Army
This year, L3Harris signed a $256 million contract with the U.S. Army to produce enhanced night vision goggles and binoculars (ENVG-B) and GPNVG-18 four-eye panoramic night vision goggles. These two types of night vision goggles have an ultra-wide field of view of more than 120 degrees and almost no blind spots, allowing soldiers to quickly judge the enemy situation and carry out precise strikes in complex night environments. The company expects the contract to last for 10 years and the total amount will reach $1 billion after completion.
Soldiers will use ENVG-B to enhance the troops' situational awareness at night and in low-light environments, and combine molten white light and thermal technology to achieve precise targeting and identification capabilities. According to statistics, the army is currently in service with about 13,000 binoculars.
The augmented reality function of the goggles allows users to lock on to targets without having to look down to read a map or check the radio for key information. It is also able to switch from white-hot vision to black-hot and contour mode, maintaining accuracy in all battlefield conditions and light levels. Its other main features include switching to monocular vision, a 40-degree field of view, and data display with waypoints, tracking, and battlefield images.
It can be said that ENVG-B is a key solution to ensure that one is not ahead of the same opponent. The night vision device was used by the Navy SEALs in the movie "The Assassination of Bin Laden", making it famous. The high visibility of this device also reflects its importance in actual combat.
However, it is interesting that night vision glasses are not exclusive to the official, and are also sold on the famous e-commerce website eBay, with a price of about 500 yuan, but the quality needs to be identified by yourself.
The weight of the four-eyepiece design is also relatively large, and with the additional battery accessories, the total weight is about 2 kilograms, so it is necessary to fix it with the support frame designed in front of the helmet and on both sides.
This looks more sci-fi when combined with the hat, and because the four-eye night vision device provides four-piece images of people, the human eye will definitely be dazzled after looking at it for a long time, which is also easy to affect the battle, so the four-eye panoramic night vision device must have image splicing technology. The four-eye night vision device without a processor for image splicing has no way to be used in actual combat.
The cool four-eye night vision goggles allow troops to see targets 200 meters away during night operations, but this equipment is too heavy. In the near future, filters with night vision functions may be used, thanks to new ultra-thin materials that can capture both infrared and visible light.