The performance of soldiers is dependent on their tactical gear. To ensure that their gear provides the most productivity most of them are now equipped with night vision technology. Most of this gear is called night vision devices which is often shortened to NVDs. You can find a wide range of products under this category including binoculars, goggles, sights designed for soldiers and law enforcement and illuminators. These NVDs can be used for navigation, surveillance, exact shooting, vehicle operations and to approach targets in the most stealthy way which will increase the capabilities of the operation at hand.
Gear you will find with night vision capability will fall into another two categories. Those for thermal enhancement and those for light amplification. Light amplification night vision devices feature an intensifier tube for images. This tube collects and amplifies invisible and infrared light. It does this by converting photons to electrons and by converting them back again.
To do this, the tube converts photons into electrons and then converts them back again. Enhancement or thermal imaging take advantage of how everything emits infrared energy. Devices that use this technology can pick up the infrared energy and provide a thermal image of what is emitting the energy. There are two types of these devices;
- Uncooled
- Cryogenically cooled
Cryogenically cooled devices are more popular. These also have better sensitivity and resolution giving their users the ability to see ranges from 0.2°F from as far as 1000 feet away.
Both of these types of night vision devices are effective when used in tactical environments and can be used for detection of vehicles and people in close to darkness without the presence of any ambient light and they can even be used in full daylight as well.
Tactical night vision devices have been in use for over 40 years and were first introduced to the US army in World War II. There have been a lot of improvements since then.
- O generation devices used image intensifier tubes as well as a projected infrared light source.
- First generation night vision devices feature passive infrared and so the devices didn’t really work well in moonless or cloudy conditions but they did not make use of a projected infrared light source.
- Generation two devices saw improvements to their image intensifier tubes and offered better reliability, performance and resolution. These were also made so they could be used in conditions where the lighting was low. The image intensifier tube had the additional microchannel plate which increased the number of existing electronics which resulted in less distortion of the image.
- The third Generation night vision devices are what are currently being used by the United States Military. These devices have better sensitivity and better resolution as well. There is also the addition of a photo cathode which is made with gallium arsenide which allows for photons to be converted to electrons. In these models the microchannel plate is coated with an ion barrier which provides an extension of the tube’s lifespan.
- Generation 4 night vision devices use film-less and gated technology which provides better vision in both high light and low light level environments. The mutlichannel plate’s ion barrier has been removed and this offers a reduction in background noise thus enhance the devices signal to noise ratio. With more electrons reaching the amplification stage the images are brighter and feature less distortion. These devices also feature an automated gated power supply system so that the photocathode voltage can be quickly switched on and off.
Here at Range Master Tactical Gear we don’t have any 4th Generation night vision devices but you can find sights, binoculars like the Bushnell 10X42 Excursion and other accessories that you may need.