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A 5RAR
soldier familiarising himself with
the Starlight Scope during the
battalion's 1st tour.
5RAR Message Form detailing the
allocation and maintenance of the
Starlight Scope (Click on thumbnail)
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Generation 1 (GEN I)
First generation passive devices,
introduced during the Vietnam War,
were an adaptation of earlier active
GEN 0 technology, and rely on
ambient light instead of an infrared
light source. Using an S-20
photocathode, their image
intensifiers produce a light
amplification of around 1000×,[8]
but are quite bulky and require
moonlight to function properly.
Examples:
* AN/PVS-2 Starlight scope
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this is an AN/PVS2
starlight, passive scope,
the basic difference between
the earlier AN/PAS4 IR
(active) scope & the AN/PVS
(1-3) (passive) scopes are:
Active IR NV devices produce
(emit) their own light
source which can be easily
detected by electronics
countermeasures, the AN/PVS
series starlight scopes
(these are termed 1st
generation scopes & there
was the AN/PVS1, 2, 2B &3)
do not emit a light source,
they use an electronic
devise in the scope body to
amplify what available light
there is, the more light,
usually moon or starlight
(hence the term starlight
scope) the better they work,
on a moonless, very dark
night they're very
ineffective, the good point
of course is they're not
detectable w/countermeasures
(at least at the time of the
Vietnam war. |
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