Kluckenbill -> (1/9/2001 3:37:00 AM)
|
For all you guys fortunate enough to be too young to have used IR equipment, it was poor even in the 1970's.
We had IR sights and two different kinds of IR searchlights on M60A1's. The ability to identify and engage a target with IR was much worse than with white light, and much more difficult than with the later starlight scopes (Image Intensification). I can't comment on Thermal Imaging since I've never used it.
I'd have to look into my old manuals to be sure, but I think we engaged out to about 1,000 meters with IR, using separate searchlight tanks. I never tried to illuminate my own target but supposedly it could be done at the proper target range. The target identification was so poor that on occasion firing tanks would mistake the searchlight tank for the target,(they'd follow the beam of light the wrong direction, to its source) so the safety officer had to keep a close watch for a turret turning too far out of the target area.
------------------
Target, Cease Fire !
|
|
|
|