page_title: Night-vision device
section_title: Soviet Union and Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Night-vision device / History / Soviet Union and Russia
caption_attribution_description: English: AKS74U Русский: АКС74У с НСПУ
context_page_description: A night-vision device, also known as night optical/observation device and night-vision goggles, is an optoelectronic device that allows images to be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. The image may be a conversion to visible light of both visible light and near-infrared, while by convention detection of thermal infrared is denoted thermal imaging. The image produced is typically monochrome, e.g. shades of green. NVDs are most often used by the military and law enforcement agencies, but are available to civilian users. The term usually refers to a complete unit, including an image intensifier tube, a protective and generally water-resistant housing, and some type of mounting system. Many NVDs include a protective sacrificial lens, or optical components such as telescopic lenses or mirrors. An NVD may have an IR illuminator, making it an active as opposed to passive night-vision device.
  Night-vision devices were first used in World War II and came into wide use during the Vietnam War. The technology has evolved greatly since their introduction, leading to several "generations" of night-vision equipment with performance increases and price reductions.
context_section_description: The Soviet Union, and after it the Russian Federation, has developed a range of night-vision devices. Models used after 1960 by the Russian/Soviet Army are designated 1PNxx (Russian: 1ПНxx), where 1PN is the GRAU index of night-vision devices. The PN stands for pritsel nochnoy (Russian: прицел ночной), meaning "night sight", and the xx is the model number. Different models introduced around the same time use the same type of batteries and mechanism for mounting on the weapon. The multi-weapon models have replaceable elevation scales, with one scale for the ballistic arc of each supported weapon. The weapons supported include the AK family, sniper rifles, light machine guns and hand-held grenade launchers.
  1PN34 refractor-based night sight for a range of small arms and grenade launchers, see photo.
  1PN50 refractor-based night observation binoculars.
  1PN51 reflector-based night sight for a range of small arms and grenade launchers.
  1PN51-2 reflector-based night sight for the RPG-29.
  1PN58 refractor-based night sight for a range of small arms and grenade launchers.
  1PN93-2 reflector-based night sight for the RPG-7D3, see photo.
  1PN110, a more recent night sight for the RPG-29.
  1PN113, a night sight similar to the 1PN110, for the SV-98 sniper rifle.
  The Russian army has also contracted the development of and fielded a series of so-called counter-sniper night sights. The counter-sniper night sight is an active system that uses laser pulses from a laser diode to detect reflections from the focal elements of enemy optical systems and estimate their range. The vendor claims that this system is unparalleled:
  1PN106 counter-sniper night sight for the SVD sniper rifle and its SVDS variant.
  1PN119 counter-sniper night sight for the PKMN and Pecheneg light machine guns.
  1PN120 counter-sniper night sight for the SVDK sniper rifle.
  1PN121 counter-sniper night sight for the ASVK large caliber sniper rifle.
  1PN123 counter-sniper night sight for the SV-98 sniper rifle.
caption: NSPU (1PN34) 3.5× night-vision scope mounted on an AKS-74U
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