12-03-2011, 09:56 PM
The issue today isn't the electronics on these optics, its the lenses/screens. To make them usable, they have to have a big enough screen/lens combination to be seen. Since the human shape and eye aren't changing very rapidly, we are locked into a certain size, regardless of how small we shrink the electronics, (which don't take up much space at all right now!).
The game changer will be some kind of screen that drops in front of the eye and creates a "Heads Up" kind of display, based on where the weapon is pointed, similar to what is used to slave the machine guns on helicopters now. Optics on top of guns will then go away, with only some kind of highly sophisticated sensing unit. Ideally, this will include thermal, optic, and starlight type of information. The electronics are available, the sensors are available, but the combination applied to boots on the ground hasn't been maximized.
The game changer will be some kind of screen that drops in front of the eye and creates a "Heads Up" kind of display, based on where the weapon is pointed, similar to what is used to slave the machine guns on helicopters now. Optics on top of guns will then go away, with only some kind of highly sophisticated sensing unit. Ideally, this will include thermal, optic, and starlight type of information. The electronics are available, the sensors are available, but the combination applied to boots on the ground hasn't been maximized.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt