I’ve played a bit with Gen3 NVG’s and clip on thermal imagers that offer limited “sensor fusion” capabilities.
I can’t understate how fucking awesome the technology is, even the stuff available in civilian market.
I can’t understate how fucking awesome the technology is, even the stuff available in civilian market.
In the US it’s possible to get really nice L3Harris Gen3 tubes, whereas in Europe you are more likely to find Photonis Echo or similar - which are really nice.
There’s the older school green phosphor tubes, and more modern white phosphor tubes - the WP ones are better in terms of contrast, and IMO easier on the eyes.
The set I have the most time on uses Gen3 WP Photonis Echo tubes, and is really nice, but I’m told it doesn’t hold up great compared to the ones available in the US.
There’s some Chinese tubes on the market now that are supposedly rather good, but I’ve not played with those.
I wonder if they reverse engineered the stuff we left behind in Afghanistan.
While the general science behind Gen3 NVG is pretty well known, having a few sets in hand would have massively sped up development, and there’s now a couple of suppliers knocking out really quite respectable tubes.
Even the chassis for them with a “install your own IIT” is stupid expensive, and 3DP versions of the chassis just aren’t there yet.