Since the first Gulf War, night vision technology has allowed the U.S. military to “own the night.”
But a quick search on the Internet shows that anyone can now own a piece of the night for $400. Binoculars, riflescopes and hands-free headsets allowing users to see in the dark are there for those with a credit card. Secondhand units can be bought on eBay for as little as $100.
An Israeli general was recently quoted in The Washington Post as saying Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon were equipped with “state of the art” night vision technology.
Meanwhile, at a recent forum on night vision technology, Army Col. Michael Williamson, program manager for Future Combat Systems network systems integration, showed a slickly produced video, where an elite commando unit launched a nighttime raid on a building surrounded by terrorists. The guards around the target building peered out into the darkness, not seeing the special forces operators creeping up on them.
With the proliferation of night vision technology, how realistic is the video? Williamson was asked.
“I don’t have that concern about owning the night. We’re also looking at countermeasures,” he said at the forum, sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.
Col. Glen Lambkin, Army project manager for night vision and reconnaissance, when asked the same question said the technology is not unique to the U.S. military. “The best thing I can say is that we are investing in technologies that will give us an edge that other folks don’t have.
“There are measures being taken, much as they have been in the past, to counter the threats we feel will be there,” he added.
Neither Williamson nor Lambkin would elaborate on the countermeasure efforts.
While night vision technology — now more than 40 years old — is ubiquitous, military research labs continue the push to give U.S. war fighters nighttime optics that are several steps ahead of what can be bought at any hunting and fishing store, or duplicated by foreign militaries.
At the top of the want list is a system that fuses both “image enhancement,” which relies on ambient light, and infrared capabilities.
Fusion will give soldiers and pilots a clearer picture of what is going on at night.
Infrared does not rely on ambient light, as does image enhancement, which emits the technology’s characteristic green glow. Laying infrared over the image will help operators see camouflaged targets and give them better contrast, experts said.
“If you turn on that fused system, the red will pop out at you, and you can react very quickly,” said Elizabeth Redden, chief of the human research and engineering directorate field element at the U.S. Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Ga.
However, military researchers are grappling with several challenges to create this fusion.
Helicopter pilots, for example, cannot use infrared sensors through windshields, noted Chief Warrant Officer Wade Fox, an adviser to the night vision devices branch at the Army 110th aviation brigade, Fort Rucker, Ala. “A fused system is really where we want to go.”
Such a system could still be used by crewmembers like door gunners who can stick their heads outside windows. For pilots, an infrared sensor could be mounted outside the cockpit, and the imaged fused on a helmet-mounted device. However, external cameras can create distortion caused by viewing the same object from two different angles, also known as a parallax effect, which makes it difficult to maneuver.
The Marines are interested in fusion. However, the service is waiting for the technology to mature before it spends its research dollars, said Jonathan Pressley, program manager of optics and non-lethal systems and infantry weapons systems at the Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico, Va.
Fusion will be mature when it doesn’t “compromise the size, weight and power” of current units, Pressley said.
Added capabilities may mean added weight and bulk, and that is a major complication for both pilots and ground forces, said the experts.
Pressley said the Marines would also like to see hands-free, digitally operated systems that can focus to infinity. “We realized the need for this after going through our obstacle course at the war fighting lab. Marines have to constantly adjust focus to open a doorknob and go up stairs.” They need “to keep their hands on their weapons and increase their situational awareness … in close quarter battle situations.”
The Marine Corps is researching ways to transmit wireless images within squads to create better situational awareness. One solution to the fusion problem might be to send the images through a wireless system to a central point where they are overlaid, then instantly sent back to the Marine. This would be a possible patch until a self-contained fusion system could be developed, Pressley said. But would this solution be secure, reliable and quick enough for the fused image to still be of use to the Marine? he asked.
“We may have to give up some weight to meet these requirements initially, but the weight we give up, we’re going to have to get significant return on the capability and reliability of the imagery in these systems,” Pressley said.
Ergonomics is an important consideration for any new capabilities, Redden said. “Head-borne weight is critical to dismounted troops,” she added. “You have a really small weight budget” on the head. It should not exceed 5 pounds. A medium-sized helmet by itself weighs 3 pounds.
The laboratory spends a good deal of time sending soldiers through obstacle courses wearing head-mounted night vision goggles. Not only must the technology perform as specified, it must survive the rigors of jumping, crawling, climbing walls and busting through doors, Redden said.
Fox said pilots have struggled with neck strain. The helmet-mounted systems weigh about 20 ounces, but an additional 20 ounces must be mounted on the back to create a counterbalance. Furthermore, the goggles have a 40-degree viewing range, meaning pilots must constantly move their heads to scan in either direction. “It’s like looking through a tube,” he said. Army aviators would like to see 95- to 100-degree vision. There would be considerable distortion on the edges, but the increased peripheral vision would allow pilots to catch flashes of light from gun muzzles or rockets to their right or left, so they can turn their heads in that direction.
The prospect of adding fused images may only increase weight to these systems. Joseph Estrera, manager of engineering at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s electro-optical systems division in Garland, Texas, said one solution is to place sensors to the side of the head. That may cause a parallax effect. “That’s minimally irritating, and at worst, life threatening,” he said. Redden said soldiers using similar systems with sensors mounted to the sides have experienced a floating sensation, and have had difficulty negotiating stairs. More research needs to be done to eliminate these parallax effects, she said. “This is a soldier’s life. If he doesn’t feel he can do his tasks in a normal way – or it slows him down – then it is really dangerous to him.”
Since 2000, Northrop Grumman has been developing digitally enhanced head-mounted fusion night vision goggles.
ITT Industries Inc., of Roanoke, Va., is also among the contractors working on this technology.
Tests have largely been successful, Estrera said, but the prototypes are still too heavy. The latest version — tested in 2005 — weighed about 3.2 pounds. That needs to get down to at least 2 pounds, or ideally, 1.5 pounds, he said.
And night vision isn’t the only item the Army is considering placing on soldiers’ heads, Redden added. Compasses, communication gear and helmet-mounted displays have all been proposed.
The Army wants the fused system to be digital for better interoperability with its network. Like the Marines, the Army is exploring the possibility of transmitting images to a nearby command post, or within a squad. Northrop Grumman has demonstrated the ability to do this, but more capabilities means more weight, so neck balance and symmetry will be a factor, Estrera said. These new functions will also require higher voltages, which will add more ounces. “The power issue is a big one,” he said.
Both the Marine Corps and the Army want the added power to come from standard AA batteries. “You can go anywhere in the world and go to a gas station and buy AA batteries,” Fox said.
Army laboratories continue to research how the individual soldier can optimally use such systems. The message from the laboratory to industry is to avoid complexity, Redden said.
Knobs are better than buttons. One-handed control is better than two. Monocular eye pieces are easier for infantryman, while binoculars are better for drivers. Don’t install complicated menus, she warned.
“A soldier in the field being shot at doesn’t want to operate a complex piece of equipment,” she added.
For pilots, these complications are more than a matter of comfort, Fox said. With up to 30 passengers aboard, there is no room for error.
“The better we can get these systems, the better, safer and more effective we will be as a team,” he said.
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