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@@RandomDeforge other channels that I trust a lot like Forgotten Weapons have partnered with them also they have a proven track record with other creator giveaways in the the military and car industry. we did our homework and vetted them first.
@@Taskandpurpose hey there Bloody Bucket, why did you use a 60 mm Maggot team as an example of the enemy at 8:27 ? Give me a good reason or quick smoke will rain upon you.
as someone who is not necessarily the target audience for these videos, politically, man do I really love how you approach these non-US topics from a place of reserved bias. You make it clear you served and are pro-US but you still fully elaborate and give credit to non-US talking points. It is insanely refreshing.
thanks I really appreciate that a lot. the most interesting parts of researching a topic is learning about points of views that I disagree with and then thinking through what that might mean. I still need to work on being less biased and explaining other perspectives better but I try !
@Stan_the_Belgian it's a period of economic and military competition between the interests of world powers, we as civilians arent trying to "defeat the east."
@@Taskandpurpose do you have an independent team, or is it all you, or do some three lettered agencies feed you packets of information in the park, at night, with lasers pointing at each other?
I used to fix and calibrate aviation NVGs. They are amazing, and yes, we would play with them. There isn't much to them, lenses, plastic hermetic case, and the intensifiers.
I guess that is good. Makes them pretty lightweight I assume? As we see with vr, people don’t really like wearing something heavy strapped to the front of their face
@@extragoogleaccount6061 that type was rather light. The lenses weighed less than a 1/2 lb in my estimate, the case was even less. The intensifiers were solid, like a half roll of dollar coins, so that was most of the weight. I'd have to focus them so the different tubes would have a down field alignment, check the intensifiers strength and "honeycomb" burns, and then backfill with nitrogen so they won't fog at altitude. The mount is right on front of the helmet and they can swing down, so they barely even touch your face. Wish I could see these new ones with thermals integrated.
@@extragoogleaccount6061 single tube pvs 14s weigh less than a pound, and the new anvg-bs weigh a little over 1 1/2 lbs, and the batteries go on the back of the helmet to distribute weight better.
I first saw night vision goggles in the army at Ft. Irwin in '86. An officer pulled up in his Humvee and I was looking at a face covered with two lensed goggles. It freaked me out.
that must have been like seeing space aged technology back then. even when I got them issued I was blown away by them couldnt believe I actually got to use them
While doing joint exercises with the Marines, one taught me a trick (didn't even occurred to me at the time) to set the height with your eyes barely above the goggles. Tilt your head forward a bit, you're seeing with your naked eye, backwards and you're using your NVGs. Actually in all joint exercises with the US military I came out with a couple of extra tools from when I was doing my service and, besides, had a blast with them.
Depending on what unit you have that can be pretty dangerous, usually you’d want to flip it, just like readers should put their reading focus on the top of their glasses instead the bottom, if you ever fuck up, you have an insanely harder case because you’re not in the proper position by doctrine (it can boil down to shit like that) both civilian and military. I played with it and found just using NVG is easier, but another good one I have found is off setting to the right, literally turn your head a few degrees and you have a clear sight picture (though it’s also good to know this can cause issues because of the light exposure from the nvgs to your cornea, the new gen is supposed to fix that though)
@@Motherofchicken I'd try it if it wasn't for the fact im not in active service anymore and I don't have the income to buy a pair. Still, it worked pretty well for me but you're right, in a combat situation it could go south. I'm from Chile and to make it clear, I have never been on a combat environment, just training with foreign militaries, like the Marines from the US
Some corrections- -you absolutely can aimwithout a laser. It’s called passive aiming -the microbolometer is used to detect a thermal signal or for integration, not night vision. Image intensifiers using photocathodes and microchannel plates are the core of night vision. They are produced widely in the US, France, Russia, Germany, India, etc.
When I studied electronic technologies, my professor was Nathan Day, an engineer who worked in the Airforce and work on the development of night vision goggle, thermal imagers, and lazer guided missiles. He was an amazing man to learn from. He has an absolutely brilliant mind and his contributions have saved countless lives the world over. But if you ask him, he was simply doing his job. 10/10 person.
During the 1st Gulf War as we were attacking in the night I could tell what ammo the Abrams were firing. The DU round looked like a laser. The Abrams exhaust looked like the bat mobile exhaust.
That fact the CEO or anyone at ITT wasn't charged with a high crime for essentially giving away classified military secrets to China is obscene. If a soldier leaks classified intel on the internet, they get charged and go to prison... if a corporation does it? "Oopsie. Pay a fine."
@@HubertofLiege God you people do not give up do you? What about ?what about? What about? Hunter was sentenced to probation today. Isn’t it great. Can’t wait to see the orange peel in his jumpsuit and baldhead your hero.😂
This just reminds me of how grueling doing near peer drills were, going from having near perfect vision with nvgs to none but you realize if an enemy just picks up a pair of nods how exposed all the high tec gear can make you.
I’ve used Both the PVS-14 and AN/PSQ-20 ENVG as an infantryman. It’s incredible what pairing thermals with night vision can do. I was able to see far beyond 300 meters during training and would often compare my experience with the guys in my squad running PVS-14’s. I would see guys that couldn’t even be seen with just nods, and it was a major advantage. When the ENVG-B starts getting issued I’m sure its gonna blow some peoples minds.
I'm sure they have enough to disallow the use of things like PEQ-2 or those IR tags we had on our helmets back in Iraq. In my experience, a huge portion of the benefit of NVGs involved profligate use of IR light/reflective surfaces that only made sense when you are pretty certain the enemy has zero NVG capabilities.
Also consider the amount of stuff left in Afghanistan after that botched withdrawal. China shares a border with them and I doubt a cash-strapped Afghanistan is not going to sell them anything they ask for.
@@andreivaldez2929 "oh no, china now has all our old equipment. hey congress, can we get another trillion more dollars to make new stuff? we promise to kick some of the money back into your campaigns 🥺👉👈"
@@mistaajonesThats a horrible strategy when dealing with the Chinese, who have proven that they can dismantle, reverse engineer, and in many cases improve on tech, and then mass produce it and get it out to their troops faster than it takes the pentagon to haggle over a defence procurement contract.
If you wonder if digital nvg’s are an issue, look up the DVE we used on tanks and LAV’s in 2003 Iraq. There were multiple times we almost slammed into the back of another vehicle because of the delay in the picture, sometimes up to 3 seconds at 40mph.
I was impressed with the $40 plastic kids nvgs that I gave my kids 10 years ago. I used it to test my LiDAR jammers and while I’m Certain they don’t compare with modern U.S. devices it worked surprisingly well.
Overwhelming numbers of troops is no longer a tactic. If they are technologically inferior to the opposing force, overwhelming numbers just means more dead and wounded combatants
I remember after the fall of the soviet union night vision optics started showing up in military surplus stores. They cost a months wage even back then. They had cyrillic lettering on them and I remember feeling worried that their troops should possess these things while the US appeared not to. But ten years later we were using something like them in Iraq and evidently night vision for everybody never quite caught on in russia
I remember when that Soviet stuff came on the US market. The prices at the time were not that outrageous compared to the cost of US gear available to military/law enforcement at the time. I also recall warnings that the Soviet gear would cause vision problems. Can’t verify that as I wasn’t very interested.
The IR5118 night vision scope has been standard issue in the PLA for some time now. The thinking is to use the cheaper helmet mounted digital NVGs for searching targets, one of the reasons why it's monocular. While using the better IR5118 night vision scope for long range engagements, this set up doesn't require IR lasers.
@@TaylorWilmes they dont need to do CQB, most engagements will be long range, unless you're fighting in the trenches which is forced. Also, the fact that they have a lot of vehicles with mortars and artillery is going to overwhelm the opposing forces.
@@TaylorWilmes in actual peer competitor CQB is minimal. Have some enemies in a building? 155mm artillery will solve that for you. Multi story building? That's what a JDAM is for. Even if we have 100K of night vision equipped CQB professionals... the Chinese have 20 MILLION man reserve army.
As someone who recently got promoted from "poor" to "can buy toys", I cannot stress enough how much of a game changer it is to get a good pair of nvgs and a laser on the rifles of my small civilian team. Save up, get an decent pvs14 and peq combo, and train with it. Preferably with friends.
Terrific production values in this episode, Cappy. And you are correct, the Chinese are prioritizing their navy, recognizing that navies are the real backbone of national defense. Okay, yeah, I admit the battle is not won until there are friendly boots on the ground, but without a navy you can neither get there or provide logistics to the grunts. Still, well done, again.
yeah from what I can tell a major ground battle is not something that China thinks is in the cards anytime soon. it's honestly probably a better investment for them to put money into athe air force and navy at this point. the chances of a ground battle anytime soon is probably slim. thanks for watching !
Makes sense.. they can always copy the tech from the west .. more difficult to steal the will to fight for one's country and defend freedom, because they just don't have it. In a ground war there would be too many desertions dereliction of duty in China's army. They only feel safe in a tank rolling over unarmed civilians
@@tacituskilgore6752 gonna be rough seas for China then when the carbon taxes increase.. shipping is a heavy polluting industry, same with China's massive coal-fired power grid! They'll be priced out of the market in favor of domestic US suppliers when the carbon tariffs are taken into account.
We would probably see a large shift soon due to the war in Ukraine. China is not sleeping, they will adapt one way or another. Whether it's stealing tech or eventually developing something domestically. We can clearly see the boons of night vision capabilities for individual soldiers. I won't be surprised if there are already secret special forces units equipped with advanced night vision tech on par with US or western capabilities. These soldiers will probably be the spearhead, punching through or dealing damage behind enemy lines, while the rest of the army will engage in conventional combat similar to what the current Russian military is doing. Utilizing a crap ton of drones.
It may be worth mentioning that while the Chinese night vision goggles are not good enough for offensive use in combat, they can absolutely be used to detect that bright active laser pointer in the dark if the enemy uses it. The foot soldier may not be able to aim accurately at a running soldier but they can definitely call in artillery and flares to the location, possibly with precise GPS coordinates if it has a rangefinder So while it may not be amazing as a primary passive sensor that the foot soldier can use to operate independently, it is incredibly useful from a combined arms perspective and to temporarily fill doctrinal holes Also, night vision may have a civilian application for nighttime drone flight. The DJI Mavic is literally a mass produced civilian FPV drone with a that can be used with a thermal night vision camera that is good enough to fly with.
thats a great point! they would mainly just be good for spotting enemy IR signals, which is useful. I think China really sees the odds of a massive landwar as small and so they are focusing on navy/airforce
It's a matter of priorities. The US focuses on making their soldier a one man army with all the high tech gear and training. Meanwhile, China with their limited capabilities would prioritize covering a wide group of multiple soldiers. That way, a squad of Chinese soldiers would be as effective and capable as a single US soldier. As time passes, we will probably see a shift in doctrine as China is not staying stagnant. They will learn and adapt one way or another.
@@TaskandpurposeI get the focus on tech for air and sea. However, if it is not bluster what about invasion of Taiwan as near future conflict and on this topic (NV) what are the Taiwan defense capabilities?
I believe but not positive that these digital NV devices require IR light. I have a ATN Day/night scope at $1100 and to see at night you have to run a IR illuminator. So if you had NVG's you could spot this like a flashlight. In combat you don't run with your IR laser on do you?
@@stazrude9624 Near IR does, thermal does not and relies only on the fact that what you are looking at is warm so it is 100% passive. It also sees people and non-electric vehicles with their exhaust very well against a cooler background.
3:12 it was also around this time frame, that soldiers on the battlefield discovered they could hold left shift to hold their breaths, and steady their aim. What a time we live in today.
I did 9 years in the Army Reserves, and you bring me back when I watch your videos! I miss my crew and the friends. There was some great things I loved about the U.S. Army !! take care
6:25 Can confirm. Im a Flight Paramedic we won't fly at night without every crew member on the aircraft wearing goggles. I don't believe there is a single civilian medevac program in the US that flies without NODs
@@dextermorgan1 Yes planes can, so can helicopters. But for medevac, landing off airport at night without goggles is super dangerous. Landing on dark roadways with powerlines running each side of the road. of landing in the mountains at night without goggles....I wouldnt do that haha.
My brother in british army was posted in Iraq back in 2000’s. He was very impressed with the fact that every US soldier had expensive night vision googs.
You forgot to mention NNVT, a Chinese Tube manufacturer... They (can) produce high end Gen 2 tubes (photonis 4G Niveau), like their NVT7 tubes. They also currently gearing up to start production of Gen 3 tubes, thanks to some techs from Kathod and Ekran Fep (both Russian manufacturers that produce Gen 2, 3 and in case of Ekran Gen 3 Filmless)... NNVT is a part of Norinco and produce everything in house from the MCP and Cathode to the PSU....
Correct. Its even photonis technology. The tubes are the same from the inside. They even have the same specs and spec sheets. This dude just spreading misinformations with his 5.11 plate carrier and fake PEQ.
Back in 1982 in the Falklands War both the British and Argentinian forces had night vision equipment . However, the British were better trained and had better morale. It’s not just the gear, it’s the guys operating it.
You're right. Chinese soldiers are way more motivated to fight in the SCS/in Taiwan than the average American soldier who is fighting 10,000 miles away from home / for people they don't really care about.
Regarding the capabilities of US gear: I visited the USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) in the early 1990's and got first hand experience trying out their periscope at night. The optical clarity was so crisp that I could see cars five miles away in color despite the darkness. I haven't used NVG's but we also had pretty good gear aboard the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) that gave us similar capability during night operations and we could've seen anything easily within range of her 5-inch guns (13 nautical miles) from the island structure.
"The 80's were the first time humanity conquered the night" *ninja laughing in the background bc they would dialate their eyes by staying in a blacked out room 5 days before a mission
China isn't under immediate threat, so it prioritizes the Navy and Airforce since those two have a long lead time to catch up with the US. Once those are mostly settled they can in theory channel their massive manufacturing capabilities into infantry and light armored vehicles to churn massive numbers in a short time. All they need is just to have functional small initial production and some familiarity with a similar system for the troops.
They're probably also thinking they want the US or whoever to advance the tech in the meantime, then when it's reached a level of maturity and easiness then they can just reproduce the tech themselves.
Let's be honest here okay? Does it really matter on a big scale? No, thermal vision already squashed night vision and everyone in the top 30 countries have them. Is China a threat to the world militarily? No, as majority of their weapons are strong only on defence and not very mobile compared to Russia or US. Is China weak? Heavens no, they can't attack great enough, but if you go attack them, US needs 6x the numbers on China defence, that's the insane part. The real part, anyone attacking China through the sea will never be able to land in China, unless its the special ops with top techs at their disposal and they can't wage war alone. My point is, why on earth would China waste their time on night visions? They have the minimum, they can see at night, the rest, a bunch of vehicles with thermal visions, seriously just try it, especially Abrams, they light up like Christmas tree from far away due to their engines.
@@ajstyles5704 The reason why China is safe from the USA isn't because of their (quite questionable in praxis) defensive power, but because they have lots of nukes that prevent large-scale invasion. They only need so much defensive power against the countries around them.
@@zuruumi9849 why on earth you bring nukes into this discussion, both have nukes and only US can bring their soldiers to invade, is China controlled by a draq queen just having a meltdown? Questioning either China defences when US themselves never went against strong empires, in a continent US failed twice after ww2..
In Finnish military 14 years ago we only had these NV scopes. You could either attach them to your weapon or wear them in your head (without a helmet) and no laser or red dot. So either aiming or viewing was difficult. As was judging distances when driving. It has gone quite a lot forward, for example now there are heavy machine gun sights that calculates distance to target and corrects the reticle.
Finish brother I recognize your name, not like you're literal name but the first part of it. I love Finland dude it's like the best part of Russia and the best part of Sweden but like I know you guys don't really like the Russians to say the least hahaha
@@cc-dtvmy 2¢ is that the ordinary Russian people are not the real issue, it is the corrupt hierarchy in Russia that has existed since the fall of the Novgorod Republic.
Medieval plate helmets would weigh between 4-8 lbs, idk how much the nods, a counter weight, and the helmet would weigh but it can't be much more than 8 lbs right?
It's not so much the weight but the balance of it. The weight being heavier forward means your neck wants to crane back to offset it and this causes strain over time, that's the point of the counter weight in the back.
I think the key point to remember is that with digital night vision you can theoretically see in higher wavelengths than your standard phosphorous tubes. Perhaps they are banking on using high spectrum IR flood lights and aiming devices to operate outside of our gen 3 visible range thus giving them an advantage. This may also be the reason why we saw the USA toy with digital NV in the form of the IVAS, probably not a unit that would be handed out to every grunt, but a few in the field could easily change the course of battle.
One thing I think some big wigs are still underestimating is how significant multispectral imagers will be for "owning the day." Having IR and near UV in the image processing pipeline isn't only useful at night. It'll make basically any camouflage super easy to spot. The digital night vision will eventually be mature enough to displace the older analogue tubes, and that will enable a GPU in the optic to process multiple sensors into one image with stuff like all the tanks highlighted because the metal stands out for the forest in UV. Just looking at the light multiplying effects of intensifier tubes vs the digital sensors may be missing how capable these things are gonna get very soon. The lag on digital systems isn't an unsolvable problem, just a matter of stuff getting faster in a few years, and being willing to invest the R&D money to target the requirements.
@@Ghatbkk- the solution has to be more nuanced than just throw more processing power at it when weight, form factor, and heat are also a concern. Several problems to solve for.
@@SeamusCameron CPUs and GPUs are smaller, faster and cooler these days. Like I said, the people who make chips know how to solve those problems, they already have.
@@Ghatbkk - Thermal Delta that causes lag when you're playing a game or processing an image has far less severe consequences than an optic freezing up in a hot and humid environment in the middle of actual combat. In the words of the all-time best fictional engineer, "Ye cannae change the laws of physics."
@@SeamusCameron I'm not just talking about games. Pay attention to the processors in cameras. Faster, lighter and cooler. Nobody is changing the laws of physics, just paying attention to them.
When I was an average infantryman we had one set of PVS-5s per platoon and maybe one Starlight Scope. During the Gulf War we had on set of PVS-7s per squad. Oddly, when I was in SF we had zero NODs in my team.
The pvs-5 has 40° fov The chinese lucie clone uses the same image intensifier as the thales lucie (mx10130) Night vision isnt illegal to own, its illegal to import night vision from the United states China and russia are capable of produceing thier own image, katod and nnvt tubes are produced I think china own old photonis production lines meaning they are capable of making thier own tubes
Once watched an armorer put a screwdriver through the lens of a $120k thermal sight because of a broken mounting bracket, was SOP to make sure it could not be resold or reused.
For me when it comes to getting informed un such topics i like seeing statements from many different nations. Here's an ex us soldier talking about it and I've heard Russian and Chinese talking about such topics. Always interesting to hear from each "side"
The NV I built for a civilian company was 10x better than any NVG system that I came across in the military. Only thing that was comparable were the 31s but the tube quality was so poor
Were the ones you built “soldier proof”? As in my iPhone is a great piece of tech but without a high end box to protect it at work it’s little more than expensive broken glass and plastic.
My unit was involved in operational testing for the ENVGs back in early 2021. I know they equipped the first unit operationally in 2022. Absolute game changer from the trash single tube green NVGs I always had. I truly wish we had the ENVGs on deployment. Driving blackout with the old ones was a huge pain in the ass. ENVGs? Easy peasy. So at least the military ones are getting better lmao
I doubt it. When the current NODs used by the U.S. military were designed (PVS-14s and PVS-31s), China was largely incapable of precision manufacturing. Building analogue night vision goggles is ALL precision manufacturing. If military night vision goggles were digital, then perhaps.
The nvg10 is surprisingly good for cheap digital NV, especially for the price. If you’re really poor it’s not a bad solution for some night fun or airsoft.
I'm finding many mass production night vision equipment on China's civilian websites, even Gen 3. Modern War institute also stated in their article "We don't own the night anymore" There are China GEN3 NVG videos on UA-cam too, easy to find.
@@prastagus3 Just stop. The internet is full of tests about these night vision goggles from China. They ALL suck. Literally they're barely usable for a hike.
@@voidtempering8700 Yes, it's called common sense and youtube. Just search up any night vision sight you find on Alibaba, Wish, other Chinese websites, etc. and you'll see that they're all just trash. Gen 3 units from China? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAGAGAG. I've been heavily involved with the Night Vision scene for years and nothing goid comes out of China. It's the same false marketing they always do.
I have said it for some years now that China are going to catch up when it comes to night fighting, but I think they will mostly do that by going thermal as that in reality is both easier, cheaper and the improvements are coming faster. Having a high quality thermal sight on your gun really makes a huge difference in combat and you don't have the laser that gives you away at the same time.
I got to use the early night vision in Marine Corps boot camp back in late 1972. Even though I read about them in magazines and saw them in use in John Wayne's Green Berets movie. It just was incredible of how well you could see at night,
Never considered that if you dont give soldiers way to fight effectively at night, youre basically cutting the time your army can spend fighting effectively in half overall. Thats a HUGE advantage id never thought of how important that is before
Great assessment Chris! A couple of other parts of the story worth mentioning ... 1. The levels of corruption in Russia and China will undoubtedly also affect the supply of these devices. 2. Philips of Eindhoven was the true home of image intensification. The slow and ridiculous demise of Philips as a leading edge technology company has probably robbed the world of countless advances including in the field of night vision.
Saying the lack if NVGs due to chip shortages in Russia is like saying they're out of cruise missiles due to a chip shortage. China filled that gap in the market, russian doctrine doesn't call for NVGs because they don't do precise occupier style raids, they smash the other army until jotting is left and then move in after to take territory. Equipping a mechanized rifle brigade with NVGs would just result in a ton of lost NVGs in the field
The "owning the night" slogan comes from the experience of fighting farmers, herders sand people and barely equiped 3rd world adversaries. Just go and listen any interviews of the foreing legion fighters in Ukraine on how useful their nvs and silencers were vs the constant shelling and bombing of their positions.
@alejandromacarthy7249 yeah, handing over 10,000 GPNVG-18s won't make a difference when you are under constant thermal drone surveillance and having artillery out shoot yours at a 5:1+ ratio
I have been unsubscribed from your channel. Wanted to say thank you, Matt, Shelley*, and your team for continuing to push out this content. I really appreciate the fight you all go through!
It’s amazing to me the advances in night vision since I was in. Back then the best we had was a single starlight scope for the platoon to share and parachute flares that lit you up as well. So Russia is up to how we were 40 years ago.
Dudka NVG for tank crew was developed and adopted into service in 1938 in USSR, read about 1PN138 it is something like PVS14 and there a lot of commercial thermal sight from Iray, Arcon, Venox, Pulsar, Guide, Archer etc. Owner of this channel has a huge problems with googling information =)
You're not wrong but the numbers game is also important. As long as the capabilities are only *marginally* worse the numbers can offset that. I might be kind of a downer here but, from my experience, the US military has gotten really complacent. I don't want to see the continued relaxing of standards and slowing down of legitimate equipment improvements (i.e. the XM7 was a mistake).
combine Apple Vision tech with military NVG's and you can basically achieve the same thing for daytime (combining miniature drone recon aid would be even more revolutionary)
I had 31s and they were badass AF, especially with their thermal capabilities. But they need to be more sturdy. They have a problem with the bridge which is made of plastic and breaks easily, especially in cold weather environments
Any of the gear that was left in Afghanistan isn’t sensitive gear we didn’t leave a single jet, a single patriot site or system. It’s not like we had any age is systems in Afghanistan so the idea that you think the Afghan either so stupid that they’re not gonna be able to build their own version of a black hawk or build their own version of a Bradley both of which are very very very, very, very, very very old pieces of tech says quite a bit about you, my guy.
@@mrprodigy7143 bro NVG and Patriot systems aren't comparable in any parallel universe. I doubt Patriot even was in Afghanistan. 🤷 US left substantial amount of latest infantry gear there and talibans every week parade with it. 🤦
@@mrprodigy7143 "says quite a bit about you, my guy" your inferred all that from the short comment that never mentioned afghani intellect? says quite a bit about you, projector-man.
With all the night vision we left behind in Afghanistan, pretty sure China is cloning it and a matter of time we will see Chinese made Gen 3 night vision under $1000
The higher-ups really dropped the ball with that one. Was it that difficult to destroy the equipment? I don't know, perhaps a big fire and throw things inside it? Same with the heavier hardware, like your vehicles.
@@flaviomonteiro1414Biden just wanted a fast withdrawal so he can prove he can end the war faster than the orange guy by leaving everything behind. General Miley is the real coward for not suggesting to leave them behind and coming up with his own plan to evacuate at least the high tech stuff
I mean, anything's possible. But in all seriousness, China doesn’t really have a lot of military hardware. Most of it is just downgraded to make it cheaper.
I would bet Afghanistan is more than willing to sell them any of our NVGs we left behind. Probably gonna see knockoff PVS-14s on Chinese soldiers in a few years.
Don't be sleeping on digital night vision. It's not what it was some years ago, and it's gertting better every year. Obviously not ideal compared to the most modern NVGs, but the visibility, range and anti delay measures have improved greatly. To give you an idea, compare the cameras smartphones had 8 years ago with what they have today.
The kid is not incorrect. Opposing forces only have NVG-type issued to their special forces and some other small units, and even those are one generation behind. Every US Army infantry soldier and Marine has the capability for night fighting with ability to put rounds on target. I am a vet 03, and I'm still amazed.
The thumbnail asked if we own the night?😂 not only do we own the night we own the day, we own the air, we own the land, and you bet your sweet ass we own the sea!
When you find a YT channel that the the person who made the videos clearly dived deep and did the work, and the findings/conclusions coincide with yours, the satisfaction level is like 🔝.
Microbolometers are needed for thermal optics which have much more tech than image intensification optics. These optics rely on analog image intensification tubes; which are essentially thousands of tiny glass rods bundled together. In order to manufacture these devices huge capital investment is required and tons of technical knowledge. Draw towers need to be built where molten glass is drawn out to proper thickness and fused thousands of times over and over to create the image intensifier. There’s only 2 manufacturers in the United States with these draw towers. Without even going into the type of glass fiber required and the process of removing impurities from the raw material at a molecular level, it is incredibly complex and difficult to domestically build the production capacity from the ground up.
To answer the question, no, not even close. US has a new smart vision optics that can automatically switches between thermal and nightvision based on time and temperature. We can adjust the setting manually. Our drones have the same technology. We are currently working on new technology that can fully determine a person’s position and highlight the person(this is not thermal, but rather grid displacement).
Electronic ears are also a huge consideration. When I was doing my tours, many of my buddies and I spent our own money to buy hunting muffs. Anyone that has been in combat knows that a squad, section or platoon sending it downrange will obliterate your hearing in seconds. I still have taenites and hearing loss from my first deployment. And ear plugs just aren't as useful as electronic muffs.
Great work as always. But it seems incomplete without mentioning civilian-grade thermal imaging optics. It is widely used on the front here in Ukraine.
Usually, the battery pack or even spare battery on the back of the helmet serve as a counterbalance, but they do have a counterbalance capability if not the battery itself. But it's just more weight on the head/helmet. Which can lead to headaches, strained neck muscles and shoulder muscles, depending on the length of the operation/time .
i have a nvg10 its not as bad as u think. driving is perfect at speed limit, they wont get ruined by oncoming headlights. if u were fighting somebody 200 yards away they are fine u just wouldnt want to clear a house with them in my opinion
Regarding the active beam - that can be fixed, with cost. You can have a datalinked system that creates a virtual beam that everyone in the datalink can see but the enemy can not - this a mix of computer chips and dual AR/Nightvision headsets. Very expensive to do but it can 100% be done. As you mentioned there are headsets coming that do this and I expect they will be 10-20 times more expensive thanbthe kitbyou we're deployed with
If you have ever been in the deep wilderness, then you will know how dark things can get, especially without star or moonlight. It's scary enough then without another side trying to shoot you, mines, UXOs, or just random rubble. I don't envy people who had or today have to fight in those conditions.
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🙋🇺🇸 BIDEN ARMED TALIBAN with 50,000 night vision.
So why you worried about Russia ???? 🤔
@@RandomDeforge other channels that I trust a lot like Forgotten Weapons have partnered with them also they have a proven track record with other creator giveaways in the the military and car industry. we did our homework and vetted them first.
@@Taskandpurpose hey there Bloody Bucket, why did you use a 60 mm Maggot team as an example of the enemy at 8:27 ? Give me a good reason or quick smoke will rain upon you.
Thinking China army can be operational is risible.
Clinton administration gave China NV tech and much more. The Intelligence agencies are in bed with everyone.
as someone who is not necessarily the target audience for these videos, politically, man do I really love how you approach these non-US topics from a place of reserved bias. You make it clear you served and are pro-US but you still fully elaborate and give credit to non-US talking points. It is insanely refreshing.
Pretty sure this is clandestinely supported and produced by U.S. military
thanks I really appreciate that a lot. the most interesting parts of researching a topic is learning about points of views that I disagree with and then thinking through what that might mean. I still need to work on being less biased and explaining other perspectives better but I try !
Right and left should join to beat the east
@Stan_the_Belgian it's a period of economic and military competition between the interests of world powers, we as civilians arent trying to "defeat the east."
@@Taskandpurpose do you have an independent team, or is it all you, or do some three lettered agencies feed you packets of information in the park, at night, with lasers pointing at each other?
I used to fix and calibrate aviation NVGs. They are amazing, and yes, we would play with them. There isn't much to them, lenses, plastic hermetic case, and the intensifiers.
I guess that is good. Makes them pretty lightweight I assume? As we see with vr, people don’t really like wearing something heavy strapped to the front of their face
@@extragoogleaccount6061 that type was rather light. The lenses weighed less than a 1/2 lb in my estimate, the case was even less. The intensifiers were solid, like a half roll of dollar coins, so that was most of the weight. I'd have to focus them so the different tubes would have a down field alignment, check the intensifiers strength and "honeycomb" burns, and then backfill with nitrogen so they won't fog at altitude. The mount is right on front of the helmet and they can swing down, so they barely even touch your face. Wish I could see these new ones with thermals integrated.
@@extragoogleaccount6061 single tube pvs 14s weigh less than a pound, and the new anvg-bs weigh a little over 1 1/2 lbs, and the batteries go on the back of the helmet to distribute weight better.
@@extragoogleaccount6061As someone that’s felt both, NVGs are heavier than VR.
Ground combat versions are more durable with roughly the same tubes. Also a bit heavier.
I first saw night vision goggles in the army at Ft. Irwin in '86. An officer pulled up in his Humvee and I was looking at a face covered with two lensed goggles. It freaked me out.
The first reaction could be : WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???
that must have been like seeing space aged technology back then. even when I got them issued I was blown away by them couldnt believe I actually got to use them
@@Taskandpurpose Do you happend to use 4 eye nvg before? i'm curios how widght the field of view is?
@@FRFFW97 degrees, iirc
@@FRFFW Only the elite special operators use them.
While doing joint exercises with the Marines, one taught me a trick (didn't even occurred to me at the time) to set the height with your eyes barely above the goggles. Tilt your head forward a bit, you're seeing with your naked eye, backwards and you're using your NVGs. Actually in all joint exercises with the US military I came out with a couple of extra tools from when I was doing my service and, besides, had a blast with them.
Depending on what unit you have that can be pretty dangerous, usually you’d want to flip it, just like readers should put their reading focus on the top of their glasses instead the bottom, if you ever fuck up, you have an insanely harder case because you’re not in the proper position by doctrine (it can boil down to shit like that) both civilian and military. I played with it and found just using NVG is easier, but another good one I have found is off setting to the right, literally turn your head a few degrees and you have a clear sight picture (though it’s also good to know this can cause issues because of the light exposure from the nvgs to your cornea, the new gen is supposed to fix that though)
@@Motherofchicken I'd try it if it wasn't for the fact im not in active service anymore and I don't have the income to buy a pair. Still, it worked pretty well for me but you're right, in a combat situation it could go south. I'm from Chile and to make it clear, I have never been on a combat environment, just training with foreign militaries, like the Marines from the US
@@SuiLagadema hell yea brother in arms, us army, much love baby, hopefully you find some in the woods out there lol
So kinda like bifocals?
Some corrections-
-you absolutely can aimwithout a laser. It’s called passive aiming
-the microbolometer is used to detect a thermal signal or for integration, not night vision. Image intensifiers using photocathodes and microchannel plates are the core of night vision. They are produced widely in the US, France, Russia, Germany, India, etc.
for some reason youtube doesnt translate your comment to English 😅
When I studied electronic technologies, my professor was Nathan Day, an engineer who worked in the Airforce and work on the development of night vision goggle, thermal imagers, and lazer guided missiles. He was an amazing man to learn from. He has an absolutely brilliant mind and his contributions have saved countless lives the world over. But if you ask him, he was simply doing his job. 10/10 person.
Mr. Day makes night vision LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That cracks me up .
@@maymayman0 turning night into day lol
you sure it's not Nathan Knight you were talking about?
@@peterchan5817 no it Mr. Day. Not Colonel Nathan T. Day. Totally unrelated individual. Hahaha.
His laser guided missiles will kill people. Won't save lives.
During the 1st Gulf War as we were attacking in the night I could tell what ammo the Abrams were firing. The DU round looked like a laser. The Abrams exhaust looked like the bat mobile exhaust.
BASED
_[ star wars intensified ]_
@mrjmorovis I was on a PSD for an XVIIIth Abn Corps Forward C & C element. Good to see another Gulf War Vet.
technically the Abrahms is a bat mobile with treads...
@@stephenkolostyak4087 Lies, thought Spare Parts Camry was.
That fact the CEO or anyone at ITT wasn't charged with a high crime for essentially giving away classified military secrets to China is obscene. If a soldier leaks classified intel on the internet, they get charged and go to prison... if a corporation does it? "Oopsie. Pay a fine."
Money talks is the rule of the free capitalism society unless you want to be communist.
@@HubertofLiege Yikes! Hunter has a bathroom and ballroom full of secret docs?
@@HubertofLiege first you need to find actual evidence of crimes lol 😂
@@HubertofLiege God you people do not give up do you? What about ?what about? What about? Hunter was sentenced to probation today. Isn’t it great. Can’t wait to see the orange peel in his jumpsuit and baldhead your hero.😂
@@MWGScorpthere's a mountain of evidence of Hunter Biden's crimes, look up Hunter Biden's laptop.
This just reminds me of how grueling doing near peer drills were, going from having near perfect vision with nvgs to none but you realize if an enemy just picks up a pair of nods how exposed all the high tec gear can make you.
I’ve used Both the PVS-14 and AN/PSQ-20 ENVG as an infantryman. It’s incredible what pairing thermals with night vision can do. I was able to see far beyond 300 meters during training and would often compare my experience with the guys in my squad running PVS-14’s. I would see guys that couldn’t even be seen with just nods, and it was a major advantage. When the ENVG-B starts getting issued I’m sure its gonna blow some peoples minds.
Xi is the best leader (let my family go please)
😂😂😂
Yes yes hail the party (they have my family aswell)
nice drip hitler
Yes very good man(I don't think im in a five star hotel)
😅😅😅😅😅 that was great
I'm sure they have enough to disallow the use of things like PEQ-2 or those IR tags we had on our helmets back in Iraq. In my experience, a huge portion of the benefit of NVGs involved profligate use of IR light/reflective surfaces that only made sense when you are pretty certain the enemy has zero NVG capabilities.
Yep, plenty to unlearn after GWOT.
Also consider the amount of stuff left in Afghanistan after that botched withdrawal. China shares a border with them and I doubt a cash-strapped Afghanistan is not going to sell them anything they ask for.
@@andreivaldez2929 "oh no, china now has all our old equipment. hey congress, can we get another trillion more dollars to make new stuff? we promise to kick some of the money back into your campaigns 🥺👉👈"
@@mistaajonesThats a horrible strategy when dealing with the Chinese, who have proven that they can dismantle, reverse engineer, and in many cases improve on tech, and then mass produce it and get it out to their troops faster than it takes the pentagon to haggle over a defence procurement contract.
"UwU, don't mind all the stuff we're sending to Ukraine that needs to be replaced. Our share prices aren't an incentive, we swear 🙏"
If you wonder if digital nvg’s are an issue, look up the DVE we used on tanks and LAV’s in 2003 Iraq. There were multiple times we almost slammed into the back of another vehicle because of the delay in the picture, sometimes up to 3 seconds at 40mph.
All digital cameras had big delays 15 years ago but not so much anymore. It might actually be the way forward for interconnected info sharing.
I was impressed with the $40 plastic kids nvgs that I gave my kids 10 years ago. I used it to test my LiDAR jammers and while I’m
Certain they don’t compare with modern U.S. devices it worked surprisingly well.
Get some actual nods
Overwhelming numbers of troops is no longer a tactic. If they are technologically inferior to the opposing force, overwhelming numbers just means more dead and wounded combatants
Aerrially targeted robotic guided handheld rockets really do that to a mf
Yup afganistan and iraq showed this.
It really depends on the numerical advantage uk has better tech and India has better numbers and India is still stronger
afghanistan and iraq proved it with guerilla warfare, and ukraine's proving it for conventional warfare too
@@suckyourdeadnan4805 not necessarily true, sure economically but military wise it's not that simple there are a lot of factors
I remember after the fall of the soviet union night vision optics started showing up in military surplus stores. They cost a months wage even back then. They had cyrillic lettering on them and I remember feeling worried that their troops should possess these things while the US appeared not to. But ten years later we were using something like them in Iraq and evidently night vision for everybody never quite caught on in russia
200$ and didn’t last long
I remember when that Soviet stuff came on the US market. The prices at the time were not that outrageous compared to the cost of US gear available to military/law enforcement at the time. I also recall warnings that the Soviet gear would cause vision problems. Can’t verify that as I wasn’t very interested.
The IR5118 night vision scope has been standard issue in the PLA for some time now.
The thinking is to use the cheaper helmet mounted digital NVGs for searching targets, one of the reasons why it's monocular.
While using the better IR5118 night vision scope for long range engagements, this set up doesn't require IR lasers.
Makes sense
They will get rekt in CQB.
@@TaylorWilmes they dont need to do CQB, most engagements will be long range, unless you're fighting in the trenches which is forced. Also, the fact that they have a lot of vehicles with mortars and artillery is going to overwhelm the opposing forces.
@@TaylorWilmes The long years of counter insurgency warfare let you only know CQB?
@@TaylorWilmes in actual peer competitor CQB is minimal. Have some enemies in a building? 155mm artillery will solve that for you. Multi story building? That's what a JDAM is for.
Even if we have 100K of night vision equipped CQB professionals... the Chinese have 20 MILLION man reserve army.
As someone who recently got promoted from "poor" to "can buy toys", I cannot stress enough how much of a game changer it is to get a good pair of nvgs and a laser on the rifles of my small civilian team. Save up, get an decent pvs14 and peq combo, and train with it. Preferably with friends.
@@Retro_Sean Pretend they are soldiers.
Absolutely loving these topics and presentation, keep it up!
Terrific production values in this episode, Cappy. And you are correct, the Chinese are prioritizing their navy, recognizing that navies are the real backbone of national defense. Okay, yeah, I admit the battle is not won until there are friendly boots on the ground, but without a navy you can neither get there or provide logistics to the grunts. Still, well done, again.
yeah from what I can tell a major ground battle is not something that China thinks is in the cards anytime soon. it's honestly probably a better investment for them to put money into athe air force and navy at this point. the chances of a ground battle anytime soon is probably slim. thanks for watching !
Makes sense.. they can always copy the tech from the west .. more difficult to steal the will to fight for one's country and defend freedom, because they just don't have it.
In a ground war there would be too many desertions dereliction of duty in China's army. They only feel safe in a tank rolling over unarmed civilians
China has 40% of the world's ship building capacity, we have 1%.
@@tacituskilgore6752 gonna be rough seas for China then when the carbon taxes increase.. shipping is a heavy polluting industry, same with China's massive coal-fired power grid!
They'll be priced out of the market in favor of domestic US suppliers when the carbon tariffs are taken into account.
We would probably see a large shift soon due to the war in Ukraine. China is not sleeping, they will adapt one way or another. Whether it's stealing tech or eventually developing something domestically. We can clearly see the boons of night vision capabilities for individual soldiers.
I won't be surprised if there are already secret special forces units equipped with advanced night vision tech on par with US or western capabilities. These soldiers will probably be the spearhead, punching through or dealing damage behind enemy lines, while the rest of the army will engage in conventional combat similar to what the current Russian military is doing. Utilizing a crap ton of drones.
It may be worth mentioning that while the Chinese night vision goggles are not good enough for offensive use in combat, they can absolutely be used to detect that bright active laser pointer in the dark if the enemy uses it. The foot soldier may not be able to aim accurately at a running soldier but they can definitely call in artillery and flares to the location, possibly with precise GPS coordinates if it has a rangefinder
So while it may not be amazing as a primary passive sensor that the foot soldier can use to operate independently, it is incredibly useful from a combined arms perspective and to temporarily fill doctrinal holes
Also, night vision may have a civilian application for nighttime drone flight. The DJI Mavic is literally a mass produced civilian FPV drone with a that can be used with a thermal night vision camera that is good enough to fly with.
thats a great point! they would mainly just be good for spotting enemy IR signals, which is useful. I think China really sees the odds of a massive landwar as small and so they are focusing on navy/airforce
It's a matter of priorities. The US focuses on making their soldier a one man army with all the high tech gear and training. Meanwhile, China with their limited capabilities would prioritize covering a wide group of multiple soldiers. That way, a squad of Chinese soldiers would be as effective and capable as a single US soldier.
As time passes, we will probably see a shift in doctrine as China is not staying stagnant. They will learn and adapt one way or another.
@@TaskandpurposeI get the focus on tech for air and sea. However, if it is not bluster what about invasion of Taiwan as near future conflict and on this topic (NV) what are the Taiwan defense capabilities?
I believe but not positive that these digital NV devices require IR light. I have a ATN Day/night scope at $1100 and to see at night you have to run a IR illuminator. So if you had NVG's you could spot this like a flashlight. In combat you don't run with your IR laser on do you?
@@stazrude9624 Near IR does, thermal does not and relies only on the fact that what you are looking at is warm so it is 100% passive. It also sees people and non-electric vehicles with their exhaust very well against a cooler background.
3:12 it was also around this time frame, that soldiers on the battlefield discovered they could hold left shift to hold their breaths, and steady their aim. What a time we live in today.
I did 9 years in the Army Reserves, and you bring me back when I watch your videos! I miss my crew and the friends. There was some great things I loved about the U.S. Army !! take care
One of the better episodes. It seems you researched from all angles.
6:25 Can confirm. Im a Flight Paramedic we won't fly at night without every crew member on the aircraft wearing goggles. I don't believe there is a single civilian medevac program in the US that flies without NODs
Woah. I'm a pilot in the Army but I didn't know civilians used NODs as well. Dope.
Are there not systems on a plane or helicopter that allow you to fly and land at night, without goggles?
@@dextermorgan1 Yes planes can, so can helicopters. But for medevac, landing off airport at night without goggles is super dangerous. Landing on dark roadways with powerlines running each side of the road. of landing in the mountains at night without goggles....I wouldnt do that haha.
anybody who start their comments by saying I'm a police or soldier or whatever.. I'm 100% sure they lying😂
@@zachsimmons6824civilians are usually more advanced than the military
My brother in british army was posted in Iraq back in 2000’s. He was very impressed with the fact that every US soldier had expensive night vision googs.
Mericaaa
You forgot to mention NNVT, a Chinese Tube manufacturer... They (can) produce high end Gen 2 tubes (photonis 4G Niveau), like their NVT7 tubes. They also currently gearing up to start production of Gen 3 tubes, thanks to some techs from Kathod and Ekran Fep (both Russian manufacturers that produce Gen 2, 3 and in case of Ekran Gen 3 Filmless)... NNVT is a part of Norinco and produce everything in house from the MCP and Cathode to the PSU....
Correct.
Its even photonis technology. The tubes are the same from the inside. They even have the same specs and spec sheets.
This dude just spreading misinformations with his 5.11 plate carrier and fake PEQ.
Back in 1982 in the Falklands War both the British and Argentinian forces had night vision equipment . However, the British were better trained and had better morale. It’s not just the gear, it’s the guys operating it.
The Argentine soldiers didn’t.
All of the best Argentine troops with the better infantry equipment were guarding the border with Chile.
In the large infantry battles that took place?
You're right. Chinese soldiers are way more motivated to fight in the SCS/in Taiwan than the average American soldier who is fighting 10,000 miles away from home / for people they don't really care about.
The Brit’s complained that their stuff didn’t work and the Args had better US gear
Don’t know how much they had and in what shape it was and training
And tactical and strategic nuclear weapons
Regarding the capabilities of US gear: I visited the USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) in the early 1990's and got first hand experience trying out their periscope at night. The optical clarity was so crisp that I could see cars five miles away in color despite the darkness. I haven't used NVG's but we also had pretty good gear aboard the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) that gave us similar capability during night operations and we could've seen anything easily within range of her 5-inch guns (13 nautical miles) from the island structure.
"The 80's were the first time humanity conquered the night"
*ninja laughing in the background bc they would dialate their eyes by staying in a blacked out room 5 days before a mission
China isn't under immediate threat, so it prioritizes the Navy and Airforce since those two have a long lead time to catch up with the US. Once those are mostly settled they can in theory channel their massive manufacturing capabilities into infantry and light armored vehicles to churn massive numbers in a short time. All they need is just to have functional small initial production and some familiarity with a similar system for the troops.
They're probably also thinking they want the US or whoever to advance the tech in the meantime, then when it's reached a level of maturity and easiness then they can just reproduce the tech themselves.
by the time their Navy gets close to near peer they would invade Taiwan. by then China will be a crater. No night vision needed.
Let's be honest here okay? Does it really matter on a big scale? No, thermal vision already squashed night vision and everyone in the top 30 countries have them. Is China a threat to the world militarily? No, as majority of their weapons are strong only on defence and not very mobile compared to Russia or US. Is China weak? Heavens no, they can't attack great enough, but if you go attack them, US needs 6x the numbers on China defence, that's the insane part. The real part, anyone attacking China through the sea will never be able to land in China, unless its the special ops with top techs at their disposal and they can't wage war alone. My point is, why on earth would China waste their time on night visions? They have the minimum, they can see at night, the rest, a bunch of vehicles with thermal visions, seriously just try it, especially Abrams, they light up like Christmas tree from far away due to their engines.
@@ajstyles5704 The reason why China is safe from the USA isn't because of their (quite questionable in praxis) defensive power, but because they have lots of nukes that prevent large-scale invasion. They only need so much defensive power against the countries around them.
@@zuruumi9849 why on earth you bring nukes into this discussion, both have nukes and only US can bring their soldiers to invade, is China controlled by a draq queen just having a meltdown? Questioning either China defences when US themselves never went against strong empires, in a continent US failed twice after ww2..
In Finnish military 14 years ago we only had these NV scopes. You could either attach them to your weapon or wear them in your head (without a helmet) and no laser or red dot. So either aiming or viewing was difficult. As was judging distances when driving. It has gone quite a lot forward, for example now there are heavy machine gun sights that calculates distance to target and corrects the reticle.
Good thing our guys are getting lighter gear and night vision tech now.
Don't worry. America will give Finland Thermal Night Vision sights and peq boxes for the guns now that Finland is NATO. 🇺🇲🤝🇫🇮
Finish brother I recognize your name, not like you're literal name but the first part of it. I love Finland dude it's like the best part of Russia and the best part of Sweden but like I know you guys don't really like the Russians to say the least hahaha
@@cc-dtvmy 2¢ is that the ordinary Russian people are not the real issue, it is the corrupt hierarchy in Russia that has existed since the fall of the Novgorod Republic.
@@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis if the reds had won All of history very different at minimum Linux probably wouldn't exist
Quad nods do have that aesthetic, but it must be uncomfortable without a counter balance.
With a counterbalance too probably, cant imagine it make the helmet super light
Yeah, it has the tarantula eyes aesthetic.
Medieval plate helmets would weigh between 4-8 lbs, idk how much the nods, a counter weight, and the helmet would weigh but it can't be much more than 8 lbs right?
It's not so much the weight but the balance of it. The weight being heavier forward means your neck wants to crane back to offset it and this causes strain over time, that's the point of the counter weight in the back.
@@Bagginsess true. but there is a reason most soldiers only used those during battle
I think the key point to remember is that with digital night vision you can theoretically see in higher wavelengths than your standard phosphorous tubes. Perhaps they are banking on using high spectrum IR flood lights and aiming devices to operate outside of our gen 3 visible range thus giving them an advantage. This may also be the reason why we saw the USA toy with digital NV in the form of the IVAS, probably not a unit that would be handed out to every grunt, but a few in the field could easily change the course of battle.
Thanks you for serving our country and thanks you for the great videos. Like others said we appreciate that you look at different view points.
Excellent analysis, Chris. You must have put a ton of time & energy into the research for this. All much appreciated. You ROCK!
One thing I think some big wigs are still underestimating is how significant multispectral imagers will be for "owning the day." Having IR and near UV in the image processing pipeline isn't only useful at night. It'll make basically any camouflage super easy to spot. The digital night vision will eventually be mature enough to displace the older analogue tubes, and that will enable a GPU in the optic to process multiple sensors into one image with stuff like all the tanks highlighted because the metal stands out for the forest in UV. Just looking at the light multiplying effects of intensifier tubes vs the digital sensors may be missing how capable these things are gonna get very soon. The lag on digital systems isn't an unsolvable problem, just a matter of stuff getting faster in a few years, and being willing to invest the R&D money to target the requirements.
The lag is purely an issue of processing power. That's a problem all of the CPU and GPU manufacturers know how to solve.
@@Ghatbkk- the solution has to be more nuanced than just throw more processing power at it when weight, form factor, and heat are also a concern. Several problems to solve for.
@@SeamusCameron CPUs and GPUs are smaller, faster and cooler these days. Like I said, the people who make chips know how to solve those problems, they already have.
@@Ghatbkk - Thermal Delta that causes lag when you're playing a game or processing an image has far less severe consequences than an optic freezing up in a hot and humid environment in the middle of actual combat. In the words of the all-time best fictional engineer, "Ye cannae change the laws of physics."
@@SeamusCameron I'm not just talking about games. Pay attention to the processors in cameras. Faster, lighter and cooler.
Nobody is changing the laws of physics, just paying attention to them.
The transition from a few NODS to everyone having them was truly the game changer, the next was the strategy on how to properly employ them.
Been watching after the U.S vs Wagner vid, love your channel bro I hope you’re doing well
When I was an average infantryman we had one set of PVS-5s per platoon and maybe one Starlight Scope. During the Gulf War we had on set of PVS-7s per squad. Oddly, when I was in SF we had zero NODs in my team.
Dude I really appreciate the practical demonstration of the laser technology, that was really cool
The pvs-5 has 40° fov
The chinese lucie clone uses the same image intensifier as the thales lucie (mx10130)
Night vision isnt illegal to own, its illegal to import night vision from the United states
China and russia are capable of produceing thier own image, katod and nnvt tubes are produced
I think china own old photonis production lines meaning they are capable of making thier own tubes
This was just an ad for the NVG they are trying to promote.
Once watched an armorer put a screwdriver through the lens of a $120k thermal sight because of a broken mounting bracket, was SOP to make sure it could not be resold or reused.
Also a great XO trick to get new thermals
For me when it comes to getting informed un such topics i like seeing statements from many different nations. Here's an ex us soldier talking about it and I've heard Russian and Chinese talking about such topics. Always interesting to hear from each "side"
the envgs are a game changer,moving from the 14s to them its a world of diffrence during small unit tactics
The NV I built for a civilian company was 10x better than any NVG system that I came across in the military. Only thing that was comparable were the 31s but the tube quality was so poor
How much did it cost and weight?
Were the ones you built “soldier proof”?
As in my iPhone is a great piece of tech but without a high end box to protect it at work it’s little more than expensive broken glass and plastic.
My unit was involved in operational testing for the ENVGs back in early 2021. I know they equipped the first unit operationally in 2022. Absolute game changer from the trash single tube green NVGs I always had. I truly wish we had the ENVGs on deployment. Driving blackout with the old ones was a huge pain in the ass. ENVGs? Easy peasy.
So at least the military ones are getting better lmao
Sorry but I have to call bs on this.
@@obamasglockI’d love to hear more about your experiences with envgs ngl
I would assume China already has some of our newest night vision goggles to reverse engineer. Hell they probably make a lot of the parts for them.
Yup cloned from the ones we left in Afghanistan
They can reverse engineer em. Can they manufacture them with quality? Nooooope.
I doubt it. When the current NODs used by the U.S. military were designed (PVS-14s and PVS-31s), China was largely incapable of precision manufacturing. Building analogue night vision goggles is ALL precision manufacturing. If military night vision goggles were digital, then perhaps.
Wouldn’t that kinda go against Berry compliant gear or no
@@cladinshadow Yet it's enough for them, to try to kick your guys asses in case of war.
Fact check: ITT leaks were definitly not Top Secret. It was probably only non-classified information. However, it was ITAR. 14:07
Love your work.
violating ITAR will land you in jail if you are a normal person...
Great video 👍🏼 This sounded less like you were just reading a script at us and more like you were having a conversation with us - good channel sir 👍🏼
Fantastic analysis and journalism!! You are a Uber analyst!!
The nvg10 is surprisingly good for cheap digital NV, especially for the price. If you’re really poor it’s not a bad solution for some night fun or airsoft.
Can confirm. There is very very little lag. Pretty good for observing but I wouldn't use them for shooting
I'm finding many mass production night vision equipment on China's civilian websites, even Gen 3.
Modern War institute also stated in their article "We don't own the night anymore"
There are China GEN3 NVG videos on UA-cam too, easy to find.
And their quality is gen 1 at best.
@@Totemparadox again, until experts can tells us what that is so from their youtube videos, I'll reserve such judgement.
@@prastagus3 Just stop. The internet is full of tests about these night vision goggles from China. They ALL suck. Literally they're barely usable for a hike.
@@TotemparadoxDo you have a source for that?
@@voidtempering8700 Yes, it's called common sense and youtube. Just search up any night vision sight you find on Alibaba, Wish, other Chinese websites, etc. and you'll see that they're all just trash. Gen 3 units from China? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAGAGAG. I've been heavily involved with the Night Vision scene for years and nothing goid comes out of China. It's the same false marketing they always do.
I have said it for some years now that China are going to catch up when it comes to night fighting, but I think they will mostly do that by going thermal as that in reality is both easier, cheaper and the improvements are coming faster.
Having a high quality thermal sight on your gun really makes a huge difference in combat and you don't have the laser that gives you away at the same time.
IR lasers only give you away to night vision users, you can’t see it with your naked eye.
Thermal imaging has higher combat efficiency, and NVG is only suitable for walking😬
I got to use the early night vision in Marine Corps boot camp back in late 1972. Even though I read about them in magazines and saw them in use in John Wayne's Green Berets movie. It just was incredible of how well you could see at night,
Never considered that if you dont give soldiers way to fight effectively at night, youre basically cutting the time your army can spend fighting effectively in half overall. Thats a HUGE advantage id never thought of how important that is before
Damn... conflict really is the mother of all inventions, or rather, the WANT to solve conflicts is the real reason why.
Great assessment Chris! A couple of other parts of the story worth mentioning ... 1. The levels of corruption in Russia and China will undoubtedly also affect the supply of these devices. 2. Philips of Eindhoven was the true home of image intensification. The slow and ridiculous demise of Philips as a leading edge technology company has probably robbed the world of countless advances including in the field of night vision.
As a dutch guy, i feel this
Saying the lack if NVGs due to chip shortages in Russia is like saying they're out of cruise missiles due to a chip shortage. China filled that gap in the market, russian doctrine doesn't call for NVGs because they don't do precise occupier style raids, they smash the other army until jotting is left and then move in after to take territory. Equipping a mechanized rifle brigade with NVGs would just result in a ton of lost NVGs in the field
The "owning the night" slogan comes from the experience of fighting farmers, herders sand people and barely equiped 3rd world adversaries. Just go and listen any interviews of the foreing legion fighters in Ukraine on how useful their nvs and silencers were vs the constant shelling and bombing of their positions.
@alejandromacarthy7249 yeah, handing over 10,000 GPNVG-18s won't make a difference when you are under constant thermal drone surveillance and having artillery out shoot yours at a 5:1+ ratio
I have been unsubscribed from your channel. Wanted to say thank you,
Matt, Shelley*, and your team for continuing to push out this content. I really appreciate the fight you all go through!
Thanks!
PVS-14 or 31 with an aimpoint/eotech without a PEQ is the solution. A laser will give you away during peer to peer.
The US would be better off donating the PEQs to China with the hope they'd ve dumb enough to use them.
@@callsignjoker2686 I forgot flip to side 3x for day time.
Any IR supportive red dot/holo will do the job
@@falconclaw_ Yep, that's what I said.
It’s amazing to me the advances in night vision since I was in. Back then the best we had was a single starlight scope for the platoon to share and parachute flares that lit you up as well. So Russia is up to how we were 40 years ago.
Dudka NVG for tank crew was developed and adopted into service in 1938 in USSR, read about 1PN138 it is something like PVS14 and there a lot of commercial thermal sight from Iray, Arcon, Venox, Pulsar, Guide, Archer etc. Owner of this channel has a huge problems with googling information =)
As a retired 11C, I gotta say, them 120 IR rounds are a beautiful thing!!! My fellow front line Brothers of War will 100% agree with me 🤘
Fun fact 😂 US didn’t develop it from 0 to 100, US military captured German night vision technology after WW2 everything today is a result of it.
You have to buy a 59 dollar mug to get entered to win.
China's military in a nutshell: catching up at unprecedented speed, but the US will keep it's advantage if it keeps its wits about.
I’d say pale imitation describes China’s military better
@@YungBeezer Cap
You're not wrong but the numbers game is also important. As long as the capabilities are only *marginally* worse the numbers can offset that. I might be kind of a downer here but, from my experience, the US military has gotten really complacent. I don't want to see the continued relaxing of standards and slowing down of legitimate equipment improvements (i.e. the XM7 was a mistake).
Don’t worry, joes in charge
@@YungBeezer It's not 2010. China doesn't just copy everything like they used to. Nowadays, that's just a "cope harder" sort of thing...
combine Apple Vision tech with military NVG's and you can basically achieve the same thing for daytime (combining miniature drone recon aid would be even more revolutionary)
I had 31s and they were badass AF, especially with their thermal capabilities. But they need to be more sturdy. They have a problem with the bridge which is made of plastic and breaks easily, especially in cold weather environments
All that gear that was left in Afghanistan - thats all ready been reverse engineered 😅
Any of the gear that was left in Afghanistan isn’t sensitive gear we didn’t leave a single jet, a single patriot site or system. It’s not like we had any age is systems in Afghanistan so the idea that you think the Afghan either so stupid that they’re not gonna be able to build their own version of a black hawk or build their own version of a Bradley both of which are very very very, very, very, very very old pieces of tech says quite a bit about you, my guy.
I'm sure with all the corruption in Afghanistan every single one of them was sold to the Chinese.
@@mrprodigy7143 bro NVG and Patriot systems aren't comparable in any parallel universe. I doubt Patriot even was in Afghanistan. 🤷 US left substantial amount of latest infantry gear there and talibans every week parade with it. 🤦
There's a very big difference between the Taliban wearing and showing off the gear we left behind vs reverse engineering and manufacturing it. Lol
@@mrprodigy7143 "says quite a bit about you, my guy" your inferred all that from the short comment that never mentioned afghani intellect? says quite a bit about you, projector-man.
With all the night vision we left behind in Afghanistan, pretty sure China is cloning it and a matter of time we will see Chinese made Gen 3 night vision under $1000
They already have a credit line for Afghanistan 🤦
The higher-ups really dropped the ball with that one. Was it that difficult to destroy the equipment? I don't know, perhaps a big fire and throw things inside it? Same with the heavier hardware, like your vehicles.
@@aleksandarjevremovic1028China is having a ball with Afghanistan including lithium mining
@@flaviomonteiro1414Biden just wanted a fast withdrawal so he can prove he can end the war faster than the orange guy by leaving everything behind. General Miley is the real coward for not suggesting to leave them behind and coming up with his own plan to evacuate at least the high tech stuff
@@flaviomonteiro1414 "dropped the ball with that one" they bounced the ball. on purpose. yes, on purpose.
I mean, anything's possible.
But in all seriousness, China doesn’t really have a lot of military hardware. Most of it is just downgraded to make it cheaper.
Don't blame them. When you've got over 900k men, cheap is the only way.
I would bet Afghanistan is more than willing to sell them any of our NVGs we left behind. Probably gonna see knockoff PVS-14s on Chinese soldiers in a few years.
Lol, Do you actually believe that?
What exactly do you know that US military experts don’t believe?
I'm sure they have it, Argus is a Chinese company that makes dual tubes the BVND
Wtf is Jackie Chan doing with that huge ass camera @15:00? LOL
Don't be sleeping on digital night vision.
It's not what it was some years ago, and it's gertting better every year.
Obviously not ideal compared to the most modern NVGs, but the visibility, range and anti delay measures have improved greatly.
To give you an idea, compare the cameras smartphones had 8 years ago with what they have today.
The kid is not incorrect. Opposing forces only have NVG-type issued to their special forces and some other small units, and even those are one generation behind. Every US Army infantry soldier and Marine has the capability for night fighting with ability to put rounds on target. I am a vet 03, and I'm still amazed.
You keep your plate carrier surprisingly slick😮
The thumbnail asked if we own the night?😂 not only do we own the night we own the day, we own the air, we own the land, and you bet your sweet ass we own the sea!
Non biased analysis is the best way to learn for a strategic mind
Finally, a product worth winning! I'm tired of UA-camrs giving out Supercars and Cash. I👏want👏nightvision👏.
This is an incredible analysis. Thank you.
When you find a YT channel that the the person who made the videos clearly dived deep and did the work, and the findings/conclusions coincide with yours, the satisfaction level is like 🔝.
Hahahah. Daesh whispers in the dark, "Thanks for the gear Brandon."
Microbolometers are needed for thermal optics which have much more tech than image intensification optics. These optics rely on analog image intensification tubes; which are essentially thousands of tiny glass rods bundled together. In order to manufacture these devices huge capital investment is required and tons of technical knowledge. Draw towers need to be built where molten glass is drawn out to proper thickness and fused thousands of times over and over to create the image intensifier. There’s only 2 manufacturers in the United States with these draw towers. Without even going into the type of glass fiber required and the process of removing impurities from the raw material at a molecular level, it is incredibly complex and difficult to domestically build the production capacity from the ground up.
Don't need them NVGs just turn your brightness and contrast both to 100%
Consistently great content-thank you!
A great bedtime story, I haven't laughed like that for a long time🤣
To answer the question, no, not even close. US has a new smart vision optics that can automatically switches between thermal and nightvision based on time and temperature. We can adjust the setting manually. Our drones have the same technology. We are currently working on new technology that can fully determine a person’s position and highlight the person(this is not thermal, but rather grid displacement).
Where was this filmed? It looks nice.
Electronic ears are also a huge consideration. When I was doing my tours, many of my buddies and I spent our own money to buy hunting muffs. Anyone that has been in combat knows that a squad, section or platoon sending it downrange will obliterate your hearing in seconds. I still have taenites and hearing loss from my first deployment. And ear plugs just aren't as useful as electronic muffs.
Strategic over tactical always.
Great work as always. But it seems incomplete without mentioning civilian-grade thermal imaging optics. It is widely used on the front here in Ukraine.
Usually, the battery pack or even spare battery on the back of the helmet serve as a counterbalance, but they do have a counterbalance capability if not the battery itself. But it's just more weight on the head/helmet. Which can lead to headaches, strained neck muscles and shoulder muscles, depending on the length of the operation/time .
i have a nvg10 its not as bad as u think. driving is perfect at speed limit, they wont get ruined by oncoming headlights. if u were fighting somebody 200 yards away they are fine u just wouldnt want to clear a house with them in my opinion
the 'monitoring troops' comment reminded me of the way Lt. Gorman monitored his Space Marines in "Aliens"
Regarding the active beam - that can be fixed, with cost. You can have a datalinked system that creates a virtual beam that everyone in the datalink can see but the enemy can not - this a mix of computer chips and dual AR/Nightvision headsets. Very expensive to do but it can 100% be done. As you mentioned there are headsets coming that do this and I expect they will be 10-20 times more expensive thanbthe kitbyou we're deployed with
Chris your the best, we love you, keep it up buddy!
If you have ever been in the deep wilderness, then you will know how dark things can get, especially without star or moonlight. It's scary enough then without another side trying to shoot you, mines, UXOs, or just random rubble. I don't envy people who had or today have to fight in those conditions.
Cappy looks happy to be out from behind the microphone and back in his natural habitat.
Selective NV blocking is a technology that could change this game, once quality NV becomes standard for near-peer adversaries.