Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
The US Army’s new goggles let soldiers see right through walls
THE US ARMY IS DEVELOPING INTEGRATED Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) goggles for close-combat forces, including mounted and dismounted troops, particularly infantry. The goggles can help soldiers see in the dark, check around corners, and even project digital maps and other data on to the lenses. Because these goggles access feeds from the omnidirectional cameras mounted on the outside of armoured vehicles, a squad of six soldiers, nestled safely in the back of a Bradley or Stryker infantry vehicle, can ‘see’ through the walls of the vehicle, getting a clear picture of the scene.
‘Now guys aren’t hanging out of vehicles in dangerous situations trying to get views on what’s going on,’ Sgt Philip Bartel of the 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team said in an interview. ‘Leadership will be able to manoeuvre
their elements and get view-on-target without having to leave the safety of their armoured vehicles. Manoeuvring elements with that kind of information will minimise casualties and will overall drastically change how we operate and increase our effectiveness on the battlefield.’
The US Army designed the IVAS goggles to mimic the head-up displays (HUD) on fighter jets. Like an HUD, the goggles project information including maps, video, and night vision across the soldier’s field of view. Soldiers have long had that sort of data at their disposal, but IVAS gives them instant access during combat. Instead of digging through their pockets for a laminated paper map, soldiers can quickly call up a digital map on their goggles without taking their eyes away from the objective.
IVAS can also use a rifle-mounted thermal-imaging night vision scope to project the soldiers’ surroundings across their field of vision. A soldier can point a rifle from behind cover or around a corner and see through the scope, gaining a view that would otherwise expose the soldier to enemy fire. Soldiers can even use IVAS to access microdrone cameras as they fly over the battlefield.
A 2020 report on the IVAS system describes how soldiers train with it. According to the Pentagon, soldiers with IVAS can enter and clear six rooms as a team in a building with virtual training targets using synthetic M4 airsoft rifles and trackers. After each run-through, soldiers are critiqued on their shots taken, kills, and shots received. The soldiers can then use the goggles to watch their avatars replay their actions in a virtual recap.
With IVAS, even mounted soldiers can see outside their vehicles. Mechanised infantry, cavalry, and engineers usually ride in the back of armoured vehicles. They know where they’re going, but the soldiers often rely on a single screen or vehicle crews to let them know where they are in real time. Once the vehicle stops and the ramp comes down, the soldiers must quickly acclimatise to their surroundings, determine where the enemy is, and orientate themselves to carry out the mission.
The US Army requested to spend $1.1 billion in 2022 to buy 40 000 IVAS goggles – enough to equip every frontline soldier. US Congress pumped the brakes on the programme, cutting the requested budget by 20 per cent. But the army has already resolved many of the issues that concerned lawmakers, such as GPS accuracy, which means soldiers may be wearing these super goggles soon.
LEADERSHIP WILL BE ABLE TO MANOEUVRE THEIR ELEMENTS AND GET VIEW-ON-TARGET WITHOUT HAVING TO LEAVE THE SAFETY OF THEIR ARMOURED VEHICLES.