March 14, 2026:
During the Ukrainian winter of late 2025 and early 2026 Russian forces sought to take advantage of the thick fog that covers vast areas of terrain that their troops operate in. For a few weeks that worked, but that was enough time for the Ukrainians to obtain and install thermal cameras on many of their surveillance drones. The thermal cameras detect differences in temperature and that means armored vehicles and troops dressed in cold weather clothing are easy to detect and kill with attack drones.
The United States not only sent thermal imaging equipment for drones but also for Ukrainian troops. For over a decade American troops have been using helmet mounted ENVGs/Enhanced Night Vision and SENVG/Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggles. The main improvement with SENVG was a much sharper, true-color image. Troops who tested them did not want to give them up. The ENVGs were so successful that the army ordered 50,000, so that all troops in a combat zone could have them. The ENVG were particularly useful at spotting enemy gunmen at night. Troops equipped with ENVG have a 50 percent probability of spotting these hidden hostiles at 300 meters and an 80 percent probability at 150 meters. This made it much more difficult for enemy fighters to ambush American troops at night. Since the enemy rarely has night vision gear, they have to rely on sound and fleeting glimpses of the approaching Americans. That means the U.S. troops had to be less than 50 meters away before the enemy could open fire. The ENVG thus provides a crucial edge at night. This has been great for American, and later Ukrainian, morale but not so good for the Taliban or Russian troops. The SENVG goggles simply increase the American/Ukrainian edge.
What made the ENVG so popular was that it combines the older light enhancement technology goggles with a thermal heat sensing night sight. This combined sight weighs about one kilogram. The older ENVG thermal only weighed 864 gr, while the AN/PVS-13 light enhancing device weighed 568 gr, for a total of nearly a kilogram. The new sight is not only lighter, but more compact and easier to use. It provides a total of 15 hours' use, 7.5 hours for thermal imaging and the same for light enhancement. In most cases where there is some star or moonlight the light enhancement sight will do. But where there is no other light as in a building or cave the thermal imager works. The thermal imager also works through fog and sandstorms.
It was two decades later that field testing of the original ENVG, the AN/PAS13, took place. This device worked with the current AN/PVS-14 night vision goggles which provide night vision by enhancing available light but added the capability to use thermal imaging seeing differences in heat. As more combat moved to Afghanistan, the ENVG became more critical for battlefield success at night.
Until the 1990s, thermal imaging equipment was large and bulky and only available in vehicles like M-1 tanks and M-2 IFVs. But twenty years ago, smaller and lighter thermal imagers came onto the market. The U.S. Army Special Forces have been using these lightweight thermal imagers to great effect from the very beginning of their development.
Field testing of the combined device began eighteen years ago and was quickly found to be popular and reliable. The earlier thermal imagers were also very popular, but carrying both night sights was not. At first, the plan was not to equip all combat troops with the more expensive combined sight. That soon changed once user reports came back, praising the ENVG and describing how much of a lifesaver it was. Not all non-combat troops had an ENVG, but every unit had some. The army found the money to buy over 50,000 of the new ENVGs, which cost about $15,000 each.