For those of you who already shoot with a holographic sight, we’re preaching to the choir, but for those who haven’t used one before, take a look at this video from EOTech demonstrating EOTech holographic sights and sight magnifiers.
CALSTAR 6 air ambulance pilots operating helicopters around Lake Tahoe are successfully using military-grade night vision goggles to navigate around mountain peaks and bad weather to transport patients from the South Lake Tahoe (California) area to emergency rooms in Reno.
CALSTAR 6 helicopter pilots use night vision goggles at night to safely negotiate treacherous conditions. Photo source: Tahoe Daily Tribune
According to the article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, the pilots have been using the night vision devices for about five years now. They report the technology has significantly improved the safety and efficiency of their nighttime operations.
“…they provided us more ability to take care of patients. That’s what it boils down to really. Because we wouldn’t have been able to do the flight tonight, possibly, without goggles,” Langevin added. “Which means that patient is delayed in his care, and he was in serious condition, and therefore he would have suffered, had we not had the ability to have these goggles.”
We concur. More and more of our business is coming from non-military organizations who are finding all kinds of applications for night vision, thermal imaging and infrared illumination systems. It’s always interesting to see something which was originally a military technology put to peaceful use in areas such as search and rescue and wildlife conservation.
One of the more interesting uses of night vision equipment is in the study of nocturnal wildlife which are otherwise difficult to study during regular daytime conditions.
One such case is that of the Black Capped Petrel. The Black Capped Petrel is a rare and endangered seabird which nests on the island of Hispanola, the Caribbean island shared by Haiti and The Dominican Republic.
Researchers are using night vision equipment to locate the subterranean nests of the nocturnal Black Capped Petrel
Numbers of the petrel have been declining, but scientists have been successful at locating and documenting only four nest sites which are located five feet underground in cliff tops over densely wooded areas.
Now researchers hope to pinpoint more nest locations using radar, night vision goggles and thermal imaging equipment. Read the article here.
Axton IR illuminators (built here in the USA by our sister-company, Axton Technologies), are usually used with day/night cameras in security systems. But they can actually be used in a lot of different situations as demonstrated in our previous post where they are mounted on an armored ATV. Here are a couple of photos of some of our Axton infrared illuminators which have been deployed on some bomb clearing vehicles in Afghanistan.
Axton IR illuminators mounted on bomb clearing vehicle in Afghanistan
In very dark conditions, IR illumination can greatly enhance the performance of night vision devices. Military grade night vision devices such as our PVS14, can detect and amplify near infrared light as well as visible light. They need very little ambient light to function well; a moonlit night or even a clear night with only starlight is all they need to produce a bright image. However, in very dark conditions such as a moonless night with cloud cover in a remote area with no city lights, the image can become pretty grainy. Many night vision devices have a built in IR illuminator, but they aren’t very powerful and only penetrate a few feet in front of you. High power IR illuminators, however, can make a huge difference.
Closeup of Axton IR illuminator on bomb clearing vehicle in Afghanistan. Powerful IR illuminators can significantly enhance the performance of night vision equipment.
Because night vision devices can detect the near infrared light spectrum and convert it to a visible image, powerful IR illuminators can greatly enhance the performance of night vision equipment and the ability of troops to perform critical missions.
Tags: Afghanistan
I received some photos from ArmorWorks this morning. ArmorWorks is a company which specialized in Armor, or course. Body armor, armored vehicles, armored helicopters. If it needs armor, they make it.
One of their latest creations is the incredible ArmorWorks Rhino ATV. Built for use by special forces teams, the Rhino will travel up to 42mph and is extensively armor plated.
ArmorWorks Rhino armored ATV with Axton IR illuminators
As you can see, there is quite a bit of lighting mounted on the top of the cage, but there are times when its operators might need to go covert at night with night vision goggles. On this Rhino, they’ve mounted a couple of our Axton AT-7 infrared illuminators (small black units mounted between the cage mounted lights). Most night vision devices work pretty well without them, but the addition of a couple of powerful infrared illuminators will significantly improve the brightness and resolution of the image.
More photos after the jump.
The Eotech EXPS3 HOLOgraphic weapon site only takes 2.75 inches of rail space.
We are adding more Eotech to our website. The EXPS3 HWS series went up today. It’s a great sight. The Eotech EXPS3 is the one with the traversely mounted single battery that only takes up about 2.5 inches of rail space. It’s perfect for use with a magnifier or with a night vision monocular.
I found a few nice YouTube reviews I’ll post after the jump including one that show how the sight looks at night through a PVS14 night vision monocular.
Tags: holographic weapon sights, HWS
Great demonstration of night vision technology from The Science Channel. For more information on how night vision works click here.
Here is an interesting comparison created by FLIR of a night vision device using regular light intensification tubes and one of their thermal imaging devices. Very interesting, although they appear to have rigged the demonstration by not using a top-notch military grade night vision device to make the thermal device appear to be clearly superior, which it is in many situations demonstrated here such as fog, or seeing someone concealed in deep shadows.. It looks like maybe Gen. 2 – clearly not the best.
Tags: FLIR
Mule deer buck in pitch dark caught with IR illumination. Photo courtesy of James S.
We want to thank customer James S. for sending us this photo of a big buck mule deer he captured with this image shot with a security camera combined with an Axton IR illuminator he recently purchase from us. Here is his comment:
“2AM Pitch Black. Would have missed this without an illuminator! I enjoy this so
much I am adding a 2nd illuminator and camera in another part of my property”.
For the record, the infrared illuminator he was using was the Axton AT-17E-2. It is completely weather proof and vandal proof. It has a range of 165 feet and an illumination angle of 60 degrees. Best of all, it doesn’t need an external power source other than the data cable that runs to your camera. You run the data cable right into the unit, and then back out to the camera. You can either synch it up with a day/night camera, so that when the camera goes into night mode the unit turns on, or you can activate a built-in day/night switch to automatically turn on when it gets dark and turn off again in daylight.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Predator"
Remember the scene in “Predator” where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character covers himself with mud to avoid detection by the thermal vision alien predator? A German company, Blücher Systems GmbH, has developed a machine washable fabric which just about completely blocks the thermal signature of a person or object from detection by thermal imaging devices. Here’s a demonstration of the technology, called “ghost” camouflage technology, I found on Youtube: