Infantry Combat Equipment (non-firearm): Vests, Body Armor, NVGs, etc.
- Thread starter by78
- Start date
I think thermal scopes will be the standard issue sights in the future in most major militaries. They vastly outperform image amplifiers, eliminate the need for seperate daytime and night optics (it is a pain even with clip-ons) and they offer advantages even during daytime since they amplify living objects.
They can't see through glass though, which may be problematic for urban combat compared to run of the mill night vision.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
It’s effectively a self correcting problem overblown by civilian reviewers since most urban combat zones won’t retain their glass for long enough to matter when troops actually go in.
The real issue with thermal is that it’s nowhere near as good as IITs or digital night vision is for navigating around in low light conditions. Uneven ground won’t look uneven under thermal since it’s all the same temperature.
Some kind of I2 night vision would be issued anyway. Thermal erases texture because it works on emitted radiation rather than reflected radiation and IR has a longer wavelength. So digital night vision goggles for navigation would still be issued. Most well-off hunters use I2 for navigation and thermal for spotting and aiming at night. Engagement distances in nighttime urban combat are below 100 meters so digital night vision would be more than enough to check windows occasionally
IMO Western militaries issuing gen 3 NV binoculars to regular infantry is just another case of high-tech splurge that characterizes post-1991 Western military procurement. I can't see how increasing nightvision range from 200 m to 300 m is worth that much money for regular infantry. I think China went the correct way by issuing digital monoculars.
I disagree. Analogue nightvision has:
- No latency - this is vital for infantry combat.
- Better performance in very dark areas such as forests and indoors.
- Massive resolution needed for sniper rifles.
- Battery life ~20-50 hours - way more than thermal scopes or digital nightvision.
I disagree with this. Digital night vision and thermals don't have noticeably more latency and thermals outperform even gen 3 tubes by a massive margin. At sniper ranges, I2 would be quite useless. Battery life is not very important. Batteries are nowadays just another logistical item that need to be delivered consistently. You can also issue a few extra batteries to the platoon medic
Nice stock on the QBZ 192.
by78
General
Note the shoulder bags worn by the two soldiers in the foreground.
More detailed images of the shoulder bag.
