Vendors Spotlight New Infrared Sights

Vendors Spotlight New Infrared Sights

Teledyne FLIR’s HISS-HD

Teledyne FLIR photo

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Two new military sighting designs that expand short-range and long-range tactical capabilities hit the market at a recent trade show.

The Thales XTRAIM is designed for day or night operations as a hybrid thermal with reflex optic sight. Infrared range performance on a human target is approximately 500 meters, Tom Saunders, an engineer at Thales Defense & Security Inc., said on the sidelines of the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The XTRAIM design projects the thermal image through the same display channel as the reflex sight, he said.

“In a typical thermal weapon sight, which would be either a clip-on or a standalone thermal, you are effectively looking at a display screen. This sight allows you to look through an all glass projected image of what the thermal sight is seeing,” he said.

“With this sight, you don’t have to come out from your night observation device,” he continued. “As you raise the weapon, you’re staring through glass. So, whatever you would see in the daytime with your naked eye is the exact same thing you’re going to see while you’re under night vision.”

Saunders said XTRAIM is now entering production for an unspecified international customer, adding that a few pre-production units received “extremely positive feedback” from some “Tier 1” U.S. special operations elements with additional units slated for testing by Naval Special Warfare and other special ops units.

At the other end of the tactical range spectrum, Teledyne FLIR used the show to introduce its new HISS-HD long-range, cooled thermal sniper sight, which allows engagement ranges of approximately 2,200 meters.

The sight was originally developed for the emerging .338 Norma Magnum machine gun program — envisioned as replacing the 7.62 mm NATO M240 and some .50 cal M2s — with capabilities that can also be applied to sniper systems, said Zach Fuller, sales manager at Teledyne FLIR.

HISS-HD is a high definition, mid-wave thermal clip-on. It features an internal cryocooler, which makes it more sensitive, Fuller said. That increased sensitivity allows the shooter to see the bullet in flight.

“And whether on a machine gun or a sniper rifle, seeing your bullet in flight is huge for your second round hit probability,” Fuller said.

It also allows the elimination of tracers, thereby reducing exposure of firing position locations, he added.

“It’s got over four times the resolution and more field of view than most of what’s out there right now,” he said. ND

Topics: