The US Army recently fielded new night-vision goggles that give soldiers the ability to not only see and maneuver better in the dark but also shoot accurately from the hip and around corners, and there may be more to come for this technology.
The Army is thinking about integrating video feed from already operational mini-drones into these next-level optics, the Army told Business Insider Monday.
Toward the end of September, the Army began fielding the L3's new Enhanced Night Vision Goggles - Binocular (ENVG-B) and accompanying BAE System's Family of Weapon Sights - Individual (FWS-I), giving this equipment to soldiers in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas.
The first 40 goggles were delivered to soldiers at Fort Riley on Sept. 23. By the end of this year, over 600 will have been fielded. Over the course of 2020, the Army will hand these systems out to more than 10,000 soldiers in seven Brigade Combat Teams and one Security Force Assistance Brigade.
The new binocular goggles offer improved situational awareness, vision in the presence of various battlefield obscurants, depth perception and mobility while rifles equipped with the new weapon sights allow soldiers to see where the weapon (either the M4A1 Carbine or the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon) is pointed for rapid target acquisition and improved marksmanship.
Back in March, the Army started fielding FLIR Black Hornet personal reconnaissance drones, pocket-sized nano drones that are part of the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) program, to soldiers in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. These soldiers deployed to Afghanistan with this technology in July.
These small, lightweight drones can be carried on a utility belt or in a pack, launched with relative ease, and provide covert surveillance out to roughly 1.5 miles for about half an hour. This technology allows soldiers to conduct recon missions without leaving their cover.
As the Army looks to the future of systems designed to boost soldier lethality, the service is considering the "integration of the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) into the ENVG-B display to provide dismounted leaders a live video feed from the SBS," documents provided to Business Insider by PEO Soldier revealed.
The video would be available inside a soldier's goggles, most likely in a picture-in-picture format, as the FWS-I currently is. With advanced add-ons like the FWS-I and the SBS, the new goggles could give US soldiers a critical edge in battle, both at night and during the day.
"This capability started from a 'what if' within PEO Soldier and is in the very early stages of integration with no timelines or exact requirements in place," a PEO Soldier spokesman said.
The project was, however, characterized as a short-term effort. Long-term objectives include weapon sight (FWS) developments for snipers and mounted gunners.
