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DSEi Special Report
We Want What U.S. Troops Have: Better Night Vision Goggles
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by Grace V. Jean
LONDON -- Allied troops who have deployed with U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have realized that they have been left in the dark – quite literally.
The night vision devices worn by their American counterparts are higher quality and more advanced than the second generation image intensifier tubes that many European and Asian militaries own.
Because the demand from U.S. forces for night vision goggles has been so high in recent years, major suppliers such as ITT Night Vision have focused on their Pentagon customers rather than the international market.
ITT is now trying to built up capacity so it can boost its international sales, company officials said here at the DSEi international arms expo. The goal is to produce up to 185,000 tubes a year.
“Now that we’ve got additional capacity, we’re going out to the marketplace more aggressively,” said Mike LoDebole, director for international marketing, in an interview with National Defense. “Every country that we visit has a demand for generation three,” technology that combines analog night vision capability with digital thermal imagery technology, he said.
At the show, he met with delegations representing Malaysia and several nations in Europe and the Middle East. “They’re emotional and adamant about wanting products,” LoDebole said.
In the past, U.K. forces have purchased all of their goggles from ITT. They recently asked ITT to build clip-on weapon sights. Traditional weapon sights have been cumbersome. The optics had to be recalibrated each time they were placed on the weapon. Clip-on weapon sights that attach to daytime sight give troops night capability without going through the calibration hassle. These are now in high demand, he said.
ITT is teaming up with a company that specializes in weapons sights for a potential contract. It recently submitted a proposal to the U.K. MOD.
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