Srinivas
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Indian Army: Enhancing Night Capability
Across its spectrum, future conflict will occur in a continuous 24 hour engagement cycle to enable a Force to maintain the tempo of operations. An essential component of progressing operations in such a manner is the ability of troops to operate by night. While the substantial increase in defence budget allocation in the past decade is heartening, capital acquisitions have been of particularly big ticket items. Little progress has however been made in equipping the army with the wherewithal to fight by night, which could impact on force effectiveness
The Armys current night fighting capability is limited. What the Army needs is third generation night vision devices (NVDs) for soldiers, night sights for rifles and night vision equipment for armoured and mechanised formations. What the Army has are limited second generation devices which at times are more of a hindrance than an asset and too few third generation NVDs. Pakistan, on the other hand, has got a range of third generation devices from the US under the War on Terror pact. China too has operationalised its entire tank and mechanised fleet for night fighting and possesses significantly higher night capability in the other arms too. Limited night fighting capability decreases force effectiveness and leads to reduced deterrence, thus providing a window of opportunity to hostile powers to increased chances of misadventure from either country.
2nd Generation
SNR: 12 to 20
Resolution: 40 to 45 lp/mm
Life: 5000 hours
Magnification: 20,000 X
3rd Generation
SNR: 22 to 30
Resolution: 64 to 72
Life: 10000 hours
Magnification: 30,000 to 50,000 X
Some other advancements of third generation are the reduced halo effect visible mostly in urban environment, picture clarity particularly at the edges, enhanced images at reduced levels of available light, more panoramic view and self-contained power supply. Other add on technologies which can be used in conjunction with NVDs are thermal image intensifiers and infra-red illuminators which reduce the dependence on ambient light (starlight, moon light) and provide for a light source of its own, invisible to the human eye of the adversary.
Read more at
Indian Army: Enhancing Night Capability » Indian Defence Review
Across its spectrum, future conflict will occur in a continuous 24 hour engagement cycle to enable a Force to maintain the tempo of operations. An essential component of progressing operations in such a manner is the ability of troops to operate by night. While the substantial increase in defence budget allocation in the past decade is heartening, capital acquisitions have been of particularly big ticket items. Little progress has however been made in equipping the army with the wherewithal to fight by night, which could impact on force effectiveness
The Armys current night fighting capability is limited. What the Army needs is third generation night vision devices (NVDs) for soldiers, night sights for rifles and night vision equipment for armoured and mechanised formations. What the Army has are limited second generation devices which at times are more of a hindrance than an asset and too few third generation NVDs. Pakistan, on the other hand, has got a range of third generation devices from the US under the War on Terror pact. China too has operationalised its entire tank and mechanised fleet for night fighting and possesses significantly higher night capability in the other arms too. Limited night fighting capability decreases force effectiveness and leads to reduced deterrence, thus providing a window of opportunity to hostile powers to increased chances of misadventure from either country.
2nd Generation
SNR: 12 to 20
Resolution: 40 to 45 lp/mm
Life: 5000 hours
Magnification: 20,000 X
3rd Generation
SNR: 22 to 30
Resolution: 64 to 72
Life: 10000 hours
Magnification: 30,000 to 50,000 X
Some other advancements of third generation are the reduced halo effect visible mostly in urban environment, picture clarity particularly at the edges, enhanced images at reduced levels of available light, more panoramic view and self-contained power supply. Other add on technologies which can be used in conjunction with NVDs are thermal image intensifiers and infra-red illuminators which reduce the dependence on ambient light (starlight, moon light) and provide for a light source of its own, invisible to the human eye of the adversary.
Read more at
Indian Army: Enhancing Night Capability » Indian Defence Review
