The U.S. Marine Corps has commenced fielding of a new situational awareness tool for Marines in night-time operations.
The Binocular Night Vision Goggle II is a helmet-mounted binocular designed to boost night perception and magnify ambient light through the use of white phosphor image intensification technology, USMC said Tuesday.
The binocular also features a clip-on thermal imager that produces thermal overlay for clearer imagery, and a binocular night vision device that uses ambient light to provide detailed visuals of objects in the dark.
These functions work together to help Marines detect buried explosives, locate hidden objects and perceive depths.
The Marine Corps Systems Command started deploying the BNVG II for reconnaissance and explosive disposal operations this spring and plans to fully field the binoculars in the second quarter of 2019.
