Russian made Scopes and Optics

PIN me with your email and I'll see if I can scan and send you some info on the NV/thermal Imagers. Sorry about the web site not loading????

I'll catch up with you privately - but I think from my experience that you'll be pushing to get a bolt action Russian rifle in 5.45 x 39! I have in my collection a beautiful BARS 4-1 bolt action, timber stock, chrome lined barrel and fully adjustable trigger in 7.62 x 39 with a Wever 2.5x scope on it - great set-up. Knocks over anything out to 300 metres and I don't usually shoot beyond that. Time of flight allows the animal to move and you can end up just maiming them - not a good look. I prefer to limit my shots to around the 100 metres that way the shot has more chance of hitting where you aim without the animal moving its head etc. Deer are notorious for putting their heads down, grabbing a mouthful of grass and then suddenly lifting their heads to look around while they chew. You need to hit them the moment they touch the grass or wait for them to lift. [My experience anyway]. The BARS 4-1 is a great little rifle to take out when I don't need the full power 7.62 x 51. Easier to shoot, not so noisy and cheaper each round and still drops them cold.

So we can put this to rest regarding using either French or Russian thermals for current and future tanks:

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/112033/

Russia has fully replaced components for tank sights from France

The Russian enterprise has completely replaced the thermal imagers for armored vehicles, previously purchased in France.

"The issue of supplies from France — it is the purchase of photodetector arrays cooled type (thermal), which are the basis of the sighting of the reconnaissance systems for tank-automotive equipment.These items were played, starting with this year supply of photodetector arrays for the "Uralvagonzavod" in the first place for tank production, is carried out with the Russian production. Addiction is a no-no," — said in the Russian government.

Russia really had difficulty after the imposition of sanctions and the refusal of the French partners to supply these products. "But with pre-emption was opened developmental work in NPO "Orion" and the concern "Schwabe" the extensive cooperation is of the Vologda optical and mechanical plant, Krasnogorsk optical plant", — explained in the government.

According to the "Rosoboronexport" at the end of 2013, Russia bought in France imagers for tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as the navigation system and communication system in an average amount of $150 million a year.

Further details from a comment in comment section:

At the moment, the Vologda optical and mechanical plant has a contract with Rostec for the purchase of thermal imaging channel TPK-K for tanks T-72B3 and T-80БВМ, and most likely for the T-90M.

1.The subject of the contract

1.1. The supplier undertakes to manufacture and deliver and the Buyer to accept and pay for products, name, item, quantity, price and time of delivery specified in the Specifications (Appendix No. 1), signed by the Parties and forming part of the Contract.

1.2.The vendor is allowed to produce and ship products on a CD the letter "O", in accordance with the PP. 2 and 10 of Decision No. 3/6/63-2018 "About the order of introduction of thermal imaging cameras domestic production in sighting systems products T-72-BZM, T-80БВМ..." approved by the Deputy Minister of defence of the Russian Federation Yu. I. Borisov 08.05.2018 G.

Catherine FC with a line of LWIR 288 x 4 will replace TPK-K with the MWIR is ФЭМ18М-03 640×512.

TPK-K is used MFTV (the module of formation of the thermal signal) ФЭМ18М-03 NPO "ORION".

TPK-K (thermal channel) produces Krasnogorskiy Zavod im. S. A. Zverev

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223...urchase/contractI...

I recall that earlier in the sights of Essa, Pine-y and Sodema for tanks t-90A, T-72b3 and BMP-3M was used by the French matrix for thermal channel Catherine FC, which was made under license. Now it is planned to use domestic TPK-K with higher performance. The introduction of this product will allow the Russian tanks(and also quite possible and combat vehicles of infantry and armored personnel carriers) get rid of foreign dependence and the technological gap.

https://rt-ci.ru/purchase_information/?id=130900

https://pikabu.ru/story/r...ionnyie_matritsyi_6011136

Congratulations to Russia, it is a very big leap.
640X512 is not bad at all...

Anybody here who can ID the optics mounted on the rifles in the picture below? Thanks in advance !

Lighter thermal sight to complement combat gear Ratnik

Russia’s holding company Shvabe also created the technology increasing aiming distance

ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow Region/, August 30. /TASS/. Russia’s holding company Shvabe has developed a new, lighter version of the thermal night vision weapon sight, which is to complement the soldier’s field combat gear Ratnik, Shvabe’s first deputy CEO for research and development and innovations, Sergei Popov, told TASS in an interview.

Currently Shvabe provides older versions of thermal night and day vision sights for the gear Ratnik and keeps working on their upgrade. As far as thermal vision sights are concerned, it is essential to reduce their mass.

"Before, the sight had seven lenses, which made it rather heavy, 1.5 kilograms. New technological solutions have enabled us to replace seven lenses with two, which cope with the same functions. The sight’s mass has been reduced dramatically. Its new version for the Ratnik gear is about 400 grams," Popov said.

Technology of increasing the aiming range

The holding company Shvabe has also developed a unique technology of cutting the reticle (sighting grid) of optical instruments that dramatically increases the aiming range.

Before, the sighting grid was created by means of photolithography, a process of transferring geometric shapes on a mask to the surface of a silicon wafer. Sights made this way were enough to achieve desirable fire accuracy at a distance of no more than one kilometer.

"Now the sighting range has increased to two kilometers. At such a distance the size of the target is close to the thickness of crosshairs. And at a certain point the target becomes invisible. We’ve devised a technology of cutting the reticles with a laser beam. Sights manufactured the new way considerably increase the sighting range," Popov said.

Upgraded sight Sodema to be used on T-90 main battle tank

An upgraded sight Sodema, originally created for the weapon systems of the armored personnel carrier BMP-3 and other armored vehicles, will be used on the T-90 main battle tanks, Sergei Popov told TASS in an interview on the sidelines of the aerospace show MAKS-2019.

"We have plans for using this sight [Sodema] for upgrading the T-90 tanks," he said.

Sodema was originally developed for the armored personnel carrier BMP-3, but it will be installed on other light armored vehicles and also used for upgrading foreign vehicles under military-technical cooperation programs, Popov said.

Equipping armored vehicles with the new sights under the upgrade program will take an estimated two to six months.

"Sodema has begun to be produced serially. Reconfiguring it for use on other vehicles will be easy," he added.

The international aerospace show MAKS-2019 is being held in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, on August 27-September 1 as organized by Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rostec corporation. The show has attracted 827 companies from 33 countries, including 184 foreign firms.

Ratnik combat gear

Currently Russian troops use the combat gear Ratnik of a second generation. In the near future Ratnik will incorporate new elements being created for the next generation gear, Ratnik-3, such as medical sensors, land mine-proof footwear and an electronic visor enabling a soldier to shoot at the enemy from around a corner. Ratnik-3 will provide the same degree of protection but will be four kilograms lighter than its predecessor. Research is underway to complement the combat gear with an exoskeleton and a drone.

Svabe holding

Shvabe is a holding company affiliated with the government-run corporation Rostec. It consists of several dozen organizations, which constitute the backbone of Russia’s optical industry. The holding’s affiliates implement the full cycle of creating the newest optoelectronic and laser technologies for national defense, state and public security and civilian industries.

https://tass.com/defense/1075716

Alright gents, what do we got to meet this new threat?

AlfaT8 wrote:Alright gents, what do we got to meet this new threat?

This "threat" was created by US army industrial complex to get more funding and I bet their infantry will never get this any time soon.

Currently either Chinese nor Russians employ NVG on such scale that would require US to retool. US is also generations ahead in NVG purchased by the military because of their budget and of it's use in counter-insurgency scenarios. At the moment thermal scopes are too expensive to be issued to the soldiers and there's no need to stack them up because how technology moves ahead. By the time it will end up in US soldiers hands it will be either reverse engineered and probably improved couple times or there are already similar systems in place. Some small Russian manufacturers already showed thermal scopes with AI for hunting.. Also, exotic infantry equipment is not really a priority in this day and age. Maybe in 5-10 years?

Regular wrote:

AlfaT8 wrote:Alright gents, what do we got to meet this new threat?

This "threat" was created by US army industrial complex to get more funding and I bet their infantry will never get this any time soon.

Currently either Chinese nor Russians employ NVG on such scale that would require US to retool. US is also generations ahead in NVG purchased by the military because of their budget and of it's use in counter-insurgency scenarios. At the moment thermal scopes are too expensive to be issued to the soldiers and there's no need to stack them up because how technology moves ahead. By the time it will end up in US soldiers hands it will be either reverse engineered and probably improved couple times or there are already similar systems in place. Some small Russian manufacturers already showed thermal scopes with AI for hunting.. Also, exotic infantry equipment is not really a priority in this day and age. Maybe in 5-10 years?

I thought russian infantry used NVGs and NV sights at a massive scale. However there are claims that currently every single recon infantry unit in the US is equipped with thermal scopes. Is this true?

The new РV1-8x25 L ХОРТ ОХОТНИК (Khort Okhotnik) from VOMZ (Vologda Optical-Mechanical Plant).
It is for Civilian use.
Their website is: pilad-vomz (add .ru at the end).
Sorry, I can not post links yet.

Is there any source out there that tries to assess the level of proliferation of night vision optics in the Russian Army? What are we talking about now that we're in 2021?
Are there several soldiers within each maneuver platoon with NV optics?
Or several within each squad?
Or does every soldier within a platoon get NV optics?

But I'd really prefer sources writing about that issue, rather than random people chipping in with anecdotal evidence. News about contracts for NV optics would help a lot, if someone has those. Like "100 000" optic sets purchased in the year xxxx, to be delivered by 2020 or so. Stuff like that.

eridan wrote:Is there any source out there that tries to assess the level of proliferation of night vision optics in the Russian Army? What are we talking about now that we're in 2021?
Are there several soldiers within each maneuver platoon with NV optics?
Or several within each squad?
Or does every soldier within a platoon get NV optics?

But I'd really prefer sources writing about that issue, rather than random people chipping in with anecdotal evidence. News about contracts for NV optics would help a lot, if someone has those. Like "100 000" optic sets purchased in the year xxxx, to be delivered by 2020 or so. Stuff like that.

Good question, and a tough one to answer. It's rare that order documents for such stuff is shown around and instead we only saw of new expensive equipment like tanks or jets.

And I doubt we will see much in future after the recent push by mod to ban such release of information.

But first site to check would be rostec.ru as they own Schwab and Orion company whom one makes optics and the other makes the matrices for night vision/thermal/IR.

https://militaryleak.com/2021/01/03/rostec-delivers-almost-300000-units-of-ratnik-combat-equipment-to-russian-armed-forces/

There's this article. Apparently, during last 8 years, 300 thousand ratnik sets were delivered. Those include sets to navy infantry, army, as well as to vehicle crewmembers, such as tank crewmembers.

Now, I am not able to find if every single ratnik set includes night vision. Since it's a modular system with many pieces, it's likely that many different subvariants exist, for various needs.

eridan wrote:https://militaryleak.com/2021/01/03/rostec-delivers-almost-300000-units-of-ratnik-combat-equipment-to-russian-armed-forces/

There's this article. Apparently, during last 8 years, 300 thousand ratnik sets were delivered. Those include sets to navy infantry, army, as well as to vehicle crewmembers, such as tank crewmembers.

Now, I am not able to find if every single ratnik set includes night vision. Since it's a modular system with many pieces, it's likely that many different subvariants exist, for various needs.

Yes, true. And they are still implanting more but regarding old gear also has it but how many? Who knows.

Apart from VOMZ and NPZ, there is also another Russian scope manufacturer: DEDAL

https://dedalnvoptics.com/en/

I currently can't find info if regular russian recon troops use thermal imagers, or only spetznaz. I know russia has 2-3 thermal imager models, but I can't find their battery life. For infantry portability and battery life matters more for thermal imagers compared to range.


I'm also interested in seeing what kind of laser designators russians use. I know the orlan -10 has one, but we never see the drone equipped with one. Can russian artillery observers use portable laser designators, or do they have to radio in calculated coordinates(infered from camera images) to batteries for example?

Have there been any news that reported contracts for night vision goggles procurement?

Anything that would help deduce how many nvg sets might have russian military procured so far?

Video showing the Zenitco factory. They make thermal imaging sights and red dots for rifles.