Marine Rifle Squads Will Test the Army's New High-Powered Night Vision Goggle-Binocul

[Boats]

Marine Rifle Squads Will Test the Army's New High-Powered Night Vision Goggle-Binoculars
By: Gina Harkins - Military.com News
Re: https://www.military.com/daily-news/...inoculars.html

Photo link: https://images02.military.com/sites/...?itok=JJK9TSt_
Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-binoculars arm U.S. Army soldiers with the ability to target, engage and neutralize threats, enhancing mission success and operator safety. (Twitter)

Infantry Marines will get the chance to test the Army's new night vision goggles, which are being compared to something straight out of a video game.

Marine rifle squads will evaluate the Army's Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular, or ENVG-B, which soldiers have been using since 2019. There has been no official decision to swap the Marine Corps' Squad Binocular Night Vision Goggles for the Army gear, but tests are underway to evaluate the two systems, said Kelly Flynn, a Marine Corps Systems Command spokeswoman.

The Marine Corps currently has 195 pairs of ENVG-Bs. Soon, squads will be selected to conduct a larger user evaluation, Flynn said.

"The Marine Corps is currently working ... to develop a timeline and evaluation plan," she added.

The Marine Corps started fielding its NVGs in 2020 after signing a $250 million contract for the devices in 2019. Brig. Gen. A.J. Pasagian, head of Marine Corps Systems Command, said service leaders still believe in the goggles because it's "ready technology today."

But leathernecks are keeping a close eye on the capabilities of the Army goggle-binocular, he added. The tests are part of an effort to equip infantry Marines with lighter, state-of-the-art gear that will help them keep the edge in a fight against a more sophisticated enemy, such as Chinese or Russian troops.

Flynn said the Army's night-vision system works on a network to share data and provide a common operational picture. The Marine Corps' NVGs, however, provide "increased depth perception, improved clarity and thermal-imaging capability to detect targets at extreme darkness or through battlefield obscurants," she added.

The Marines' new NVGs combine a night-vision binocular with clip-on thermal imager. They can detect targets in very low light, bad weather and through smoke.

The Army's goggle-binocular, a wireless system with a built-in thermal imager that officials say improves marksmanship during the day and night, has generated buzz since a brigade posted a video to social media showing soldiers' view when wearing them.

"You have never seen night vision like this!" the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team tweeted in April.

The brigade's video and photos show soldiers outlined in bright, glowing detail. Weapons, vehicles, walls and terrain appear outlined in a similar light. Machine-gun fire and mortar rounds give off a vibrant blue-green light.

"We own the night," the Lancer Brigade added in a separate tweet.

About this writer: Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com.

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Personal note: I think they've had several versions of night-vision goggle types over the past many years.
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What they need is to have a sensor device on their helmets and so when its dark - they just flip down a
night-shield that shows the heat of the moving elements in front of them.
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Also - hopefully they don't shoot our own guys? Maybe they will be wearing a patch that is seen or recognized
by the sensor as a friendly - and we don't shoot our own troops coming in from another direction? This device
also has to acknowledge or recognize - friendlies - and not shoot their people - as well by mistake?
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If it's only picking up the body heat - and not the uniform that recognized as a friendly -
we could be killing one another - or a local innocent civvy?
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Just my thoughts - Boats