Representatives of the Cyclone Research Institute reported to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu about the creation of prototypes of uncooled microbolometric receivers. These receivers are the basic part of any thermal imager. In simple terms, Russian enterprises are ready to switch to serial production of matrices for thermal imaging sights. This is especially important when you consider that in modern armies, thermal imagers are used everywhere: from small arms to tanks.
JSC TsNII Tsiklon is now part of the Ruselectronics holding, which, in turn, is the largest industry holding, its core is made up of 113 enterprises of the Russian electronics industry. The holding itself, in turn, is an integral part of the Rostec State Corporation. At present, TsNII Tsiklon specialists carry out work in the field of reconstruction and creation of unique production facilities for cooled and uncooled photodetectors, as well as the creation and serial production of microdisplays based on emitting organic light-emitting diodes and systems based on them.
Thermal imagers are the eyes of the army, they are used in the armed forces as night vision devices, allowing them to recognize heat-contrast targets (whether they are equipment or personnel) at any time of the day. In the modern world, thermal imagers have become an important component of sighting systems for armored vehicles and strike army aviation. Thermal imaging sights are also used together with hand-held small arms, although due to their high cost they have not become widespread, especially in Russia.
At the same time, according to Denis Kungurov, a columnist for the Utro.ru publication, if in 2011 the American army purchased 80,000 thermal imagers for installation on small arms, the Russian army officially did not have one. If in 2011, according to the estimates of the instructors of the Airborne Forces, the need for the Russian army was about 100 thermal imagers for small arms per year, then today, with the increase in the importance and number of special forces, this need has grown to 400-500 sets per year. Thermal imagers mounted on small arms allow fighters to confidently recognize targets in poor visibility at night or in bad weather. So a person can be seen at a distance of up to 1.5 kilometers, and enemy equipment at a distance of up to 2 kilometers, due to the heat radiation emitted by them. If the matrix used in the thermal imager has a high resolution, then the fighter can conduct aimed fire at the detected targets from a distance of 600-900 meters.
Five years ago in Russia, only three enterprises were able to launch the production of military thermal imagers: TsNII "Cyclone" (Moscow), "Progresstech" (Moscow), as well as the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant. By 2013, the number of thermal optics manufacturers in Russia had increased, but all of them continued to remain hostages of the French, Israeli and American matrices. The main Russian sight for small arms supplied to the army is the Shahin 2x2. At the same time, the manufacturer has never hidden that the thermal imaging sight is based on the French Ulisse matrix. According to the tender for the purchase of sights of the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2012, the permissible price for one such thermal imager was 850 thousand rubles. If we take into account the fact that the cost of the matrix is 40-50% of the cost of the entire sight, at today's rate this sight will cost approximately 1.5 million rubles. A similar situation has developed in Russia with thermal imagers, which are installed on armored vehicles and are built on the French matrix of the Tales company. The market value of microbolometric uncooled thermal imaging sights produced by Progresstech LLC together with the Branch of the Novosibirsk Institute of Semiconductor Physics SB RAS of the Design and Technological Institute of Applied Microelectronics (KTI PM) is estimated at 2, 1-2, 2 million rubles in 2016 prices. Without increasing production volumes, their cost will remain so high. Also, foreign components, for example, central processors, affect the increase in cost.
Thermal imaging sight "Shahin"
Due to the collapse of the country and the dire economic situation, which provoked the collapse of the military electronic base in the 1990s, Russia seriously lagged behind Western countries in the development of thermal imaging matrices. At the same time, the first bolometric matrices were created in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s for aviation and medicine, and in the late 1980s the country created the Agava-2 thermal imager for installation on main battle tanks. At present, the level of import substitution in the electronic component base (ECB) sector is only 20%, said Igor Kozlov, Director General of Ruselectronics JSC, speaking at the conference “Digital Industry of Industrial Russia” in Tatarstan. According to him, by 2021 it is planned to increase the replacement of imported electronic components in the domestic market by more than 3 times - up to 70%.
At present, the enterprises of the Ruselectronics holding are preparing for the serial production of uncooled array microbolometric receivers. These devices form the basis of any thermal imager today, which allows detecting targets regardless of the time of day, in difficult meteorological conditions and even in the presence of artificial interference. According to the official website of the Rostec State Corporation, new thermal imagers with Russian matrices will go into service with the new main battle tanks Armata, BMP Kurganets, armored vehicles of the Typhoon family, and will also be used in sights for portable anti-aircraft missile systems Igla "And" Willow "and small arms.
According to the specialists of the state holding, the serial production of such Russian matrix receivers is an important technology that is needed not only to maintain the country's security, but also to develop modern civilian products made in Russia. “This is an opportunity not only to make our military equipment truly all-weather and all-day, and the use of high-precision weapons - independent of the situation on the battlefield, but also to make a significant contribution to the development of the civilian sector of the economy. The matrices we produce can be used in various devices for thermal audit, defectoscopy, as well as in a wide range of medical equipment: for early detection of cancer, remote detection of diseases and in many other equipment that is directly related to the detection of thermal radiation and its identification, "said Alexey Gorbunov, representative of the Central Research Institute "Cyclone".
In an interview with Izvestia, he noted that Russia was able to become the fourth country in the world after the United States, China and France, which managed to create its own thermal imaging matrix (perhaps Gorbunov had something else in mind, since Israel and Germany). According to him, today the production of such matrices is being created in Russia with a production volume of up to 10 thousand pieces per year. Thermal imaging cameras are considered one of the most important parts of combat vehicles today. Thanks to thermal imagers, you can not only recognize targets in complete darkness, but also point weapons at them and successfully hit them. However, according to Valery Viktorovich Zubov, General Director of Progresstech LLC, the volumes of 10 thousand thermal imaging matrices created in Russia per year indicated in the Rostec press release are simply unrealistic. There is no market in Russia that today would consume such a quantity of manufactured products; orders of the Ministry of Defense and law enforcement agencies are currently measured in tens of units per year, but not in thousands.
As a military expert in the field of armored vehicles Sergei Suvorov said in an interview with Izvestia, until recently French matrices Thales Catherine-FC and Sagem Matiz were purchased for Russian armored vehicles. On their element base, the Essa thermal imaging sighting system was built, designed for the T-90 and Plisa tanks, and designed for the T-80 tanks. For example, the Essa thermal imaging sighting system allows the crew to search, detect and recognize targets at any time of the day at a distance of up to 4 kilometers, continuously working for at least 6 hours at ambient temperatures from -50 to +55 degrees Celsius.
“At the same time, domestic sights with the same matrix turned out to be better than French ones,” the expert said. - Because in Russia the lens manufacturing technology (Soviet legacy) and software turned out to be better. And the sanctions against the Russian Federation have made their own adjustments to international cooperation and made it impossible for the mass production of thermal imaging cameras based on imported components,”said Sergei Suvorov.
Thermal imaging sight ESSA
Currently, the Russian Ministry of Defense is ready to order not only thermal imaging systems for armored vehicles, but also sights designed for installation on small arms and MANPADS, in which uncooled matrix microbolometric receivers are used. So, for the portable anti-aircraft missile systems "Igla" and "Verba" in Russia, the sights "Mowgli" and "Mowgli-1" were created. And on all modern armored vehicles, from "Armata", "Kurganets" and "Typhoons" to ships (the base minesweeper of Project 12700), it is planned to install "Slingshot". This equipment is capable of detecting a human figure or enemy armored vehicles at a distance of two to nine kilometers, and the time to bring it into operation does not exceed 30 seconds.
