Thanks RB!
Archive for the ‘Optics’ Category
Thinks That Make You Go ‘Hmmm’
Friday, July 22nd, 2016L3 Warrior Systems – Next Generation Aiming Laser
Wednesday, July 20th, 2016The Next Generation Aiming Laser is starting to show up in preproduction form, with full production beginning this fall. Aside from the size (3.6″x 2″X 1.25″), another cool feature is that it uses one CR-123A or AA battery. You’ll also be able to switch directly from visible to IR laser with the click of a button on the remote switch.
DEP Offers Knight’s Armament UNS Family Powered by the PHOTONIS INTENS Image Tubes
Tuesday, July 19th, 2016
DEP, USA. Texas – The system enhancement company, DEP, LLC. now offers the Knight’s Armament Company (KAC) family of Universal Night Sights (UNS) powered by the recently released INTENS 4G image tube.
INTENS 4G significantly exceeds resolution and bandwidth sensitivity of any current image tube and is being fielded to various Special Missions elements.
Offerings will include the UNS A3, PVS-22, and PVS-30 clip-on night sights in both P43 (green) and P45 (white) phosphor.
KAC pioneered weapon sight use of the PHOTONIS white phosphor image tube in the KAC UNS over 6 years ago, with the system remaining serviceable following thousands of rounds and years of use.
All factory KAC warranties and service will apply.
Please contact KAC directly, a DEP distributor or DEP directly for inquiries.
Safran Optics 1 Inc, Awarded $304,522,367 Contract for Laser Target Locator Module II
Monday, July 18th, 2016
Safran Optics 1 Inc., Bedford, New Hampshire, was awarded a $304,522,367 firm-fixed-price, multi-year contract for Laser Target Locator Module II. Bids were solicited via the Internet with five received, with an estimated completion date of July 11, 2015. Funding and work location will be determined with each order. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W91CRB-16-D-0018).
The LTLM II is a lightweight handheld laser target locator with a color day camera and night sight, as well as a selective availability anti-spoof module (SAASM) Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. It’s big advantage over the currently fielded LTLM I is size, weight and power or SWAP. Coming in at half the weight of its predecessor, LTLM II also offers redundant precision locating capabilities.
Maven Offering Binos In ODG Camo
Monday, July 18th, 2016
Introducing the B Series Binoculars in ODG LUPUS camo – elite optics, designed to fit your specific needs, delivered for a fraction of comparable binoculars’ costs. Superior low-light performance, tack-sharp-edge-to-edge clarity, generous depth of field, silky focus mechanism – the B Series stacks up with the most celebrated and expensive binoculars in the world… bar none. Mavens modern sportsman inspired designs paired with the best available materials and state of the art technology create an uncompromising optic.
Orion Design Group chose Maven’s B series binos because they are perfect for hunting and scouting in the back country. Our livelihood depends not only on our skill and ability but also the gear and equipment we use out in the field. Performance is non-negotiable and we stand behind that. The B Series binos paired with ODG Lupus camo are the best in form, function and concealment.
The Limited edition LUPUS B series by Maven come in both the B.1 and B.2
(Only 75 sets available.)
The specs are as follows:
B.1: 8X42-$970 / 10X42-$1000
B.2: 9X45-$1120 / 11X45-$1150
mavenbuilt.myshopify.com/products/orion-design-group-custom-design-binoculars
Warrior East – MATBOCK Tarsier Eclipse
Thursday, July 14th, 2016MARBOCk told me that three years of work have paid off. Tarsier Eclipse is NAVAIR approved and will be added to the NATOPS!
For those of you unfamiliar with Tarsier Eclipse, it’s an add-on, easily adjustable iris for the objective lens of night vision devices which facilitates quick focus. With a twist of the adjuster, the iris opens and closes (as you can see above) in order to fine tune the focus for up close work. It also works as a sacrificial lens in order to prevent lens damage.
Night Vision Redux – Part 6
Wednesday, July 13th, 2016As a tie-in conclusion to the last few weekly segments, a final area of discussion is augmentation accessories. Expending the resources to enhance EO equipment typically means you want to utilize it in more situations, harsher environs, and allow functions not previously available. Various accessories are binders that allow these advances without taking away from previous capabilities and magnify the singular enhancements.
Modularity and scalability are the key fundamentals this series began with. Another key is compatibility. Being modular and scalable by design is great, but limiting yourself to a sole source can (and has proven to) be very limiting. The components shown to this point are to a high threshold backwards compatible to the host device, as this was referenced as key with regards to component costs. Compatibility going backwards and forwards is a practicality keystone.
Mechanical interface has always been a sensitive industry topic. Who’s trinket works on who’s widget weighs heavy, particularly as the dollar threshold increases. You want your stuff to work with available stuff, and the new stuff you don’t even know exists until next SHOT Show. Maybe, even stuff that you want to design around for personal uses.
The main point to grasp here is that optical stuff isn’t cheap. Even the cheap stuff isn’t cheap. So if your entertaining upgrading it, make sure it’s all compatible and works to your benefit. The linkage hardware needs to be the right prescription for your needs, or its sour grapes. This means the weight is right, as optics hang off your face-you can’t function long with excessive head weight. The gear works for you and your host optics, not against you. You understand the hardware matrix and what benefits come with what risks. Are there safety concerns when driving ATVs or dynamic applications that your gear wasn’t made for particularly? When discussing compatibility, it’s not just does it fit, it’s also does it work with what your doing. A shoe may fit well, but it’s not a boot.
Night Vision Redux is a weekly series prepared with the assitance of DEP, the US subsidiary of Photonis. It is intended to educate readers about image intensification (I2) systems and ways they can be upgraded without having to purchase completely new systems.
Night Vision Redux – Part 5 – Optics
Thursday, July 7th, 2016Nearing the end of the of the series of upgrade vs. replace your NVD (specifically the PVS-14), a significant item(s) are to be addessed-the actual optics.
As with all monoculars, the PVS-14 has two specifically. The objective and eyepiece lens assemblies (“lens” for ease of discussion). Combined, these lenses weigh more than any other single component and drive the cost more than any item other than the image tube itself.
As mentioned previously and referenced in a user post last week, removing the eyepiece lens is relatively simple. The eyepiece easily spins off along with its stop ring. Combined weight of these components is a hefty 63g on average (the image tube average weight is about 75g).
Without going into excessive details, the legacy PVS-14 eyepiece is no simpleton part. Designed in the late 80s as a workhorse, the eyepiece can easily support the vision span of bifocal users along with those of us whom can’t see the ground we stand on without corrective measures. A whopping 10 or so diopters of adjustment (about a half inch of travel) is available in the design.
Today and in recent past most of us are corrected in some form to near 20/20 vision. Rare is the set of spectacles in the operational space. For reference, the last few USG goggle contracts in common domain have ZERO mechanical adjustments for users in the conventional form (spinning the lens in/out). These goggles use not only hybrid materials, but have fixed eyepieces corrected to about -.5D. The only adjustments are pop-in corrective lenses. These lenses also act as a protective element to the eyepieces themselves as they can be easily scratched. The huge advantage here is weight reduction of not only the lens materials, but the minimization of moving mechanical parts. These newer lenses often weight about 50% of the typical lens assemblies. Usually, cost is the driving factor with these type optics costs 2-8X as much as an off the shelf design. Again, a quantitative value of cost/quantity.
Going back to the objective lens briefly, with the upgrade of the chassis now the objective lens can be readily removed as well without having to strip the entire PVS-14 down completely. This allows a device to essentially now be reassembled once with no need to remove the critical electronics or image tube for basic modularity changes or maintenance.
In the image, a newer low weight Ether eyepiece was added to the upgraded chassis. This is a hybrid design which opens up the eye-box (the eye placement position sensitivity) along with a weight reduction down to about 46g (17g less comparative). This upgrade is novel for a few reasons; it balances the monocular as well as offsets any other potential weight increases noted in previous segments (i.e. titanium vs. plastic stop ring, etc.). These are particularly sensitive items when attempting to go into the goggle or “BNVD” viewing space for both weight and optical convergence. In most BNVD (meshing two monoculars into a goggle format), you will notice the eyepieces and objective lenses are PVS-14 optics. This can be sub-optimum. Trending is now to have a dual channel optic, but there is a reason most “goggles” cost much more than 2X the cost of a monocular (tube cost aside). The optics drive the cost and for good reason.
Night Vision Redux is a weekly series prepared with the assitance of DEP, the US subsidiary of Photonis. It is intended to educate readers about image intensification (I2) systems and ways they can be upgraded without having to purchase completely new systems.
