ADVANCED NIGHT VISION

Description:

Early gen-III night fighting equipment favored wearing a single image intensifier monocular. With only one eye looking into the monocular a soldier theoretically had a wider field of view and if his monocular failed he would still have one eye adjusted for low-light conditions. The AN/PSQ-20 was the most advanced integration of this concept and the monocular contained not only an image intensifier tube but also a thermal imager.

PRIMAL Assessment:

As night vision technology becomes cheaper, lighter and smaller multiple tube 'goggles' are replacing the single monocular. The fused technologies pioneered with the AN/PSQ-20 will eventually filter down and combine with emerging technologies such as 'panoramic' and 'low-profile prismatic' NVGs.