Saha Expo International Defense Exhibition Turkey Istanbul

Russia to spend $7,5 million on developing fifth-generation night-vision devices TASS 31304162

Military Industry Technology - Night Vision

Russia to spend $7,5 million on developing fifth-generation night-vision devices

The development of fifth-generation night-vision devices will cost 500 million rubles ($7.5 million), Katod Enterprise Director for Special Projects Alexei Yenin told TASS on Tuesday. Night-vision devices should be developed within the next five years, he added.

Armasight PVS7 Night Vision Goggles Generation 3 Alpha. (Photo: Youtube)

"The problem we face today relates to an electron-sensitive matrix, i.e. a component Russia has not produced yet but is currently developing. As soon as this problem is resolved, such a device will be developed," Yenin said.

According to him, new-generation night-vision devices can be launched into production within two-three years, if the electron-sensitive matrix is developed.

Preliminary estimates show that the project will cost 500 million rubles, the executive said. "I think that we will have to resolve this problem within the next five years in any case; otherwise we will lag behind our rivals considerably," Yenin said.

As it was reported earlier, the Katod Enterprise is planning to start producing fourth-generation electro-optical image converters and night-vision devices on their basis within the next two years.

Fifth-generation devices have an absolutely different design and it is far more difficult to organize their production.

As of today, third-generation night-vision devices are the most advanced and efficient systems. Only three companies in the world have managed to organize their serial production, with two of them in the United States and one, i.e. the Katod Enterprise, in Russia.

Last year, the Katod Enterprise increased the output of electro-optical image converters by 50%, Yenin said, without specifying the exact figures.