Many US Special Operations Forces (SOF) operations happen under the cover of night. American’s elite warriors employ various electronic equipment to let them see into the shadows. These include thermal imagers and image-intensifying night vision goggles (NVG).
The latter normally come in monocular or binocular versions. While they do their job fine, a drawback of these devices is that they offer a limited field of view (FOV). This limited FOV creates a ‘tunnel vision’ effect, and can create depth-perception problems, none of which are welcome when storming a compound in the dead of night.
In recent years, Tier 1 SOF, such as SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU) and Delta Force, have employed an innovative set of NVGs called the Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles (GPNVG). Designed by L3 Warrior Systems, the GPNVG solves the limited FOV problem by using 4 tubes. While other NVGs use only 1 or 2 intensifier tubes, providing no more than a 45 degree field of view (FOV) to the wearer, the 4 tubes used by the GPNVG provide more than double that, providing a 97 degrees panorama. Wearing the GPNVG, the SOF operator has a similar FOV at night than during the day. Such a FOV is especially advantageous during CQB operations.
Read more – American Special Ops
(Featured image courtesy of washingtontimes.com)
