Thermal sight - the latest development of Russian scientists
Novosibirsk Akademgorodok recently presented to the public a new development, created in conjunction with the Design and Technological Institute of Applied Microelectronics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Progresstech LLC - a thermal imaging sight.
The new development is designed for observation and aimed shooting in low light, total darkness, smoke, fog, that is, it can work in poor visibility conditions. The only drawback of the new thermal imager is that it is “afraid” of a cold shower: the water is opaque to thermal or, as it is also called, infrared radiation. The device picks up the thermal radiation of objects invisible to the ordinary eye and from a distance can distinguish a person, a group of people and various other sources of heat within a radius of 1,5 km. It can be installed on small weapon, including large-caliber. This is the main difference between the thermal sight and previous developments, whose functions were limited to observing the terrain.
The instrument case, the electronic module and the lenses are the personal development of Russian scientists, and the uncooled photodetector matrix of amorphous silicon with a resolution of 640 × 480 elements, which underlies the device, was borrowed from the French.
The principle of operation of the electronics module is interesting: having received an image as an electronic signal from a photo-receiving array, it improves it and uses different algorithms to process the image throughout the frame in real time. You can also invert and scale the image, display it on the display of the sight and drop it onto the PC via the USB port. The electronic module also has a ballistic calculator built into the scope. It is necessary to automatically enter corrections into the aiming mark, adjusting the indicators of weather conditions, the distance to the target, such as the type of weapon or cartridge used.
For the sake of justice, it is worth noting that Akademgorodok is working on the creation of its uncooled photodetector matrix. Work on the creation of thermal imagers began even under the Union, but there was a mass of technological difficulties due to the difficulty of manufacturing and the need to cool the photodetector with liquid nitrogen. Naturally, there was no question of using a thermal imager on small arms. Later, the Americans created an uncooled matrix, which gave impetus to the production of lightweight portable thermal imagers. And only recently, the Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the Academgorodok developed an analogue of a foreign matrix — an uncooled microbolometer matrix. According to the characteristics, it is still inferior to foreign analogues.
For a four-hour continuous operation of the device only four finger batteries are needed.
According to scientists, only the Russian army needs at least 100 thermal imaging sights annually, so they are seriously counting on orders from the military. So far, they have managed to assemble and send 10 instruments to the test. The same number of them is required in the civilian market, for example, for sale in hunting stores.
By the way, over the past few years, the United States Army has adopted about 80 thousands of such infrared devices, some of which are thermal sights. In our army, according to the developers, there are no thermal sights. Serious companies do not supply us with sights that can be used as weapons, and those that are supplied from China, France, Israel can only be used for hunting weapons - they are not suitable for such heavy calibers as a large-caliber rifle or machine gun.
In Russia, similar products are still being produced by the TsNLI Research Institute - the Shahin sight and the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant - the thermal sight. However, the resolution of “Shahin” is only 160 × 120 and 320 × 240 elements, and the design of the device from Rostov is not suitable for large-caliber weapons. In addition, it depends on weather conditions: when the temperature changes, the lens needs to be refocused, in addition, because of its design, the aiming axis is shifted. Too narrow a field of view of both products makes it possible to reach the target quite easily on targets with a known location, but in a short time cannot find an enemy on a terrain with previously unknown coordinates.
The device from Novosibirsk scientists will cost the buyer half a million rubles apiece. The device, which was presented by Novosibirsk scientists, had 12 thousands of machine-gun shots, 7 - from a grenade launcher and 5 thousand - from a heavy cliff gun and at the same time looked like a new one. Of course, there are cheaper thermal imaging devices on the market. They are used by builders and rescuers, and their price starts with 200 thousand rubles. But these are not sights, but observation devices.
At this stage, the developers have received a technical task for the sight from the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
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