Modern night vision equipment is state of the art for infantry and special forces. After the most recent assault against international terrorists and insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, the United States Armed Forces and the US-trained Iraqi Security Forces put Urban Combat methods to good use. Much of the specialized equipment, such as night vision equipment, was put to good use in the door-to-door search and destroy mission to catch the bad guys. Navy Seals, Swat Teams, Special Forces all deploy this modern night vision equipment used in conjunction with long range binoculars, these units can see thousands of yards in the dead of night, they work so well they are quite addictive. . Warriors have been known to keep them lit even in tighter quarters where lighting is sufficient without them.
We see the new GPS night vision gear with all the incredibly useful bells and whistles in BattleSpace, but we believe that now with the smaller processors and microsensors we can greatly improve current designs without adding weight. In fact, it seems that now with modern electronics almost out of the box from AMD and Intel, these night vision goggles, binoculars, and special gear could even shave a pound and a half off their current weight. Surround panoramic night vision is possible and also required according to the Air Force Report to the Senate Armed Services Committee, subcommittee on; “Emerging Threats for Fiscal Year 2002,” see page 11. In aviation, you have to consistently dial six so you don’t get shot out of the sky. Imagine in the Vietnam War if our LRP Long Range Patrols had wraparound night vision equipment? They could sneak out at night, all night, and see everything around them with better visibility than during the day and farther than Bionic Man.
Today’s most respected and sought after military night vision equipment has extended fields of view. Some specially designed units have a 210 degree view. This is absolutely great, however we need a 360° view. This is possible using small tube-like antennas with tiny cameras on the ends. The tubes will bend like pilot sunglasses to fit comfortably over the ears. These tubes will follow the edge of the skull and over the ear, then protrude one inch and rotate again parallel to the skull and point directly back on either side of the soldier’s head. These tubes can be incorporated with other equipment such as helmets, goggle straps, headsets, or speaker arms, which are commonly used for inter-team communication. Sight tubes will have a static cling surface on the bottom, which will stick to any other hardware the team member is using.
The rear view projection will display over the front view similar to video backup monitors over the center of an RV’s front windshield to assist in backing up. If the night vision is equipped with heat and color change sensors to display said body heat, the rear view will not incorporate this, the weight saving rear view will just be the normal green tint color.
The entire scene, both front and rear, will be videotaped and stored in the goggles and can be saved via USB port and a downloadable cartridge will be waterproof and stored in one of the uniform pockets. This video will be brought in for training at USMC, DHS, FBI, SWAT, Ranger, Seal facilities. In these new high-tech simulators, lights will go down, a ten-screen surround sound system that includes a 10-foot ceiling and overhead screen as well; will play the footage at normal speed with sound. A system similar to that of the NASA Control Tower Training will be used as a virtual reality environment, like that of the CAVE Project.
In this way, the students will have been in virtual battles hundreds and hundreds of times with thousands of hours behind them before risking their lives in the theater. The lives we save in the field will more than pay for the additional training virtual reality simulators. We believe these new systems, once integrated, will save lives and increase productivity in the arenas of urban warfare, SWAT hostage situations, DEA drug busts, Border Patrol chases, FBI undercover operations , DHS efforts, Coast Guard ship boardings, etc.
We should order 15 such simulators and strategically place them across the country for training, day and night, 24/7. Well worth the money and with the battles going on now we can have plenty of action packed footage for all of these agencies and military training needs. Once we have a video library of the most dangerous and challenging images, we’ll be well on our way.
In NASA’s aviation simulators and space shuttle simulators, you’re given multiple emergencies and the most dire combinations of hair-raising, gut-wrenching, adrenaline-pumping problems, and they’re all delivered to you at once. time. It’s moments like that that test the souls of men. These simulators test to see if the pilots have the right stuff. We need that for all of our teams. Through the use of electronic video from the point of view of combat soldiers, urban warfare takes on a completely different perspective. From these electronic video sessions, modifications can be made using the latest film, thus change and manipulate the combat situation in a new reality. Is it real or is it Memorex? Am I in Iran or North Korea or am I in the; Codename: “Matrix IV” at the USMC base at Camp Pendleton? Look, here it is; Kids playing video games on their computers are getting pretty good at quick thinking, fast action games, this training taken to a much higher level or latest in current technology will be more than productive. Such a training regiment is intelligent, non-linear, and based on reality. Politicians role-play debates, salespeople visualize the sale in the process, athletes use psycho-cybernetics and place themselves in tomorrow’s winning race, pilots and astronauts use simulators and as the old adage goes; Practice makes perfect. It pays to practice now before they shoot real bullets.
By adding these technologies and abilities to night vision equipment in the field and deploying our elite forces with them, we can use those experiences to train our next wave of future combatants.