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Night Vision Devices for the Indian Armed Forces

Night Vision & Electro-optics India 2022 webinar & virtual expo is being held on 18-21 January 2022 to provide a platform to all stakeholders in building and improving night vision and night fighting capabilities of the Armed Forces.

Night vision devices (NVDs) are lacking both in quantity and quality in the armed forces particularly in the Army. In recent years, transgressions by the Chinese have doubled and face-offs have increased manifold. The armed forces have to increase surveillance and upgrade our night vision capabilities to secure the borders. Along the Line of Control (LC) cease fire violations and infiltration attempts by Pakistan have also increased.

Scaling of the NVDs for the Indian Army has been finalized. There is a colossal requirement of NVDs, which require substantial funding. Despite the high cost, these devices are required urgently for achieving optimal surveillance capabilities. Soldiers must be equipped with night vision from sub-tactical level operations to operational levels.

Recent Developments

The requirement of NVDs for use in various types of terrain – high altitude, jungle, riverine or desert – each with their peculiarities. Moreover, NVDs should must withstand vagaries of weather, record and communicate images to higher headquarters, have in-built global positioning system (GPS) and laser range finder (LRF), be easily portable and easily maintainable. For easy upgradation and better flexibility future night sights should be modular with a common basic structure and add-ons based on requirements. Critical requirements for NVDs are weapon compatible ranges, ruggedness, easy sustainability and adequate power requirements.

Industry Perspective

To meet large number of NVDs required by the armed forces, 'Make in India' provides an opportunity to the private industry. DPSUs still have an unfair advantage as they often bag contracts on nomination basis. Participation must be based on merit. Transfer of technology (ToT) route may not be ideal as it does not cater for evolving technology. Indian companies must develop in-house technologies Overseas companies are far ahead in cooled and uncooled sensors, new detectors like XGA, VGA Short Wave Infra Red (SWIR), MWIR and LWIR.

New Technologies

Newer devices are getting better in Magnification, Resolution, Sensitivity, Angle of field of view, Eye relief, Power of the Infrared Illuminator and Detection and recognition distance. They are also getting lighter and smaller.

New developments in the area of image intensification and thermal devices have been successful in providing vision over a wide range of spectrum coupled with advent of sensor fusion technology.

Currently, high-end infrared imaging tech requires cryogenic freezing to work and devices are costly to produce. new technologies are being invented to work at room temperatures and produce extremely lightweight devices, cheap and easy to mass produce.

Market Projections

The defence industry is adopting NVDs to cater to the increasing demand for patrolling, surveillance and conventional and counter-insurgency operations. Adoption of the NVDs integrated with near-infrared (NIR) imaging technology for security and surveillance applications with aid market growth.

On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into image intensifier and thermal imaging, out of which, the image intensifier segment is anticipated to have maximum market shares on the back of its wide range of use for different application for instance, surveillance, targeting, navigation and others.

The global night vision devices market size is projected to reach USD 9.02 billion by the end of 2027. The massive investments in the research and development of efficient products will contribute to the growth of the overall market in the coming years.

Night Vision Devices Market by Device Type (Binoculars and Monocular, Cameras, Glasses, Goggles, and Scopes), by Application (Border surveillance, Engineering, Fire and Rescue, Law Enforcement, Maritime & Coastal surveillance, Medical, Security, and Others (Natural Resource Agency Applications, etc.), the market was worth USD 4.66 billion in 2019 and will exhibit a CAGR of 8.8% during the forecast period, 2020-2027.

Objectives

The event will bring together all stakeholders including users, staff involved in the procurement process, maintenance agencies, industry and scientific community to exchange ideas and information on latest technologies, products, challenges and the way ahead in improving night fighting capabilities.

NVD Requirements

The Infantry have declared their requirement of TI and II sights. That's not counting the mechanised forces, artillery and all observation devices:

Ni Sight for Carbine (II) $ 542 mn

Ni Sight for Rifle (TI)        $ 812 mn

Ni Sight for Rifle (II)         $ 650 mn

Ni Sight for LMG (TI)       $ 339 mn

Ni Sight for LMG (II)        $   91 mn

Ni Sight for MGL (TI)       $   87 mn

Ni Sight for MMG (TI)     $ 125 mn

Ni Sight for Gren Lr (TI) $ 105 mn

TI Sight for 84mm RL       $ 228 mn

II Sight for 84mm RL        $  3.6 mn

Total Cost                          $ 2983 mn

Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap 2018

Night Vision Sights for Tanks      4000

Night Vision Sights for ICVs        2000

Helmet Mounted NVBs               Hundreds

Next-gen NVDs (IR/TI)                 Hundreds

TI Sights                                    55,000

II Sights                                     180,000

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