The Novosibirsk Akademgorodok has recently presented to the general public a new development created jointly 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 intended for observation and aimed shooting in low light, complete 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 captures 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 heat sources within a radius of 1.5 kilometers. It can be installed on small arms, including large-caliber weapons. This is the main difference between the thermal imaging sight from previous developments, the functions of which were limited to observing the terrain.
The body of the device, the electronic module and the lens are a proprietary development of Russian scientists, and the uncooled photodetector matrix made 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 in the form of an electronic signal from a photodetector matrix, it improves it and, using various algorithms, processes the image throughout the frame in real time. You can also invert and scale the image, display it on the sight display and upload it to a PC via the USB port. The electronic module also has a ballistic calculator built into the scope. It is necessary for the automatic input of corrections to the aiming mark, adjusting the indicators of meteorological conditions, the range to the target, such as the weapon or cartridge used.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that in Akademgorodok, work is underway on the creation of its own uncooled photodetector matrix. Work on the creation of thermal imagers began during the Soviet Union, but there were a lot 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 Akademgorodok developed an analogue of a foreign matrix - an uncooled matrix of microbolometers. In terms of characteristics, it is still inferior to foreign counterparts.
For a four-hour continuous operation of the device, only four AA 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 devices for testing. 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 80,000 such infrared devices, some of which are thermal imaging sights. In our army, according to the developers, there are no thermal imaging sights. Serious companies do not supply us with sights that can be used as weapons, and those that come 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 produced by the TsNII Tsiklon - the Shahin sight and the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant - the thermal imaging sight. However, the Shakhin's resolution 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, due to its design, the aiming axis is shifted. Too narrow a field of view of both products makes it quite easy to hit targets with a known location, but cannot find an enemy in a short time on terrain with previously unknown coordinates.
The device from Novosibirsk scientists will cost the buyer one and a half million rubles apiece. The device, which was presented by Novosibirsk scientists, had 12 thousand shots from an assault rifle, 7 from an under-barrel grenade launcher and 5 thousand from a heavy machine gun "Cliff" and at the same time looked like new. Of course, there are also cheaper thermal imaging devices on the market. They are used by builders and rescuers, and their price starts from 200 thousand rubles. But these are still not sights, but observation devices.
At this stage, the developers received a technical assignment for the sight from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
