Soldiers use night vision goggles to identify targets and a thermal sight mounted on their weapons for targeting. These systems give soldiers a huge tactical advantage on the battlefield. But they need to swap from goggles to thermal sights to acquire their targets which means they could lose track of their target.
BAE Systems is bringing the two forms together to pack the functionality of both into a single unit. BAE’s system transmits the picture from the weapon’s sight to the head-mounted display via a Bluetooth connection. This will work in all weather and lighting conditions to speed up the time that soldiers take to acquire their targets and engage faster.
The US Army has awarded BAE Systems a contract worth $434 million to provide US soldiers this new system. The new high-tech goggles are expected to be available to soldiers by early 2017.
