The Night Vision Spot: L3Harris BNVD AN/PVS-31A 08/28/21

The PVS-31 BNVD
Preface: Kind of an odd blog, but I guarantee nobody else is doing one on this subject.

    The AN/PVS-31As are binocular, i.e. two image tubes, night vision goggles. Designed by L3Harris Technologies for USSOCOM, i.e. American special forces. They represent some of the most up to date forms of individual use night vision there is, having been used for many years now, and only recently being replaced by newer designs.        
     
    They have a minimum figure of merit, or FOM rating, of 2376 which is the measurement of the tube clarity and quality. They have a field of view of 40 degrees total, which is the upside of binocular night vision. While still inferior to the 97 degree field of view on the L3Harris GPNVG-18 quad tube night vision, the BNVD AN/PVS-31A is one of the gold standards in lightweight, reliable, and proven night vision devices. The tube used is the 18mm MX-11769 Variable Gain which is the industry standard. The objective focus is 18 inches to infinity, meaning that the closest an object can be to the front lenses that will be in perfect unblurred focus is 18 inches. They also mount to the standard helmet mount, the Wilcox Industries G24 mount, as used by NATO and numerous recipients of American military aid which allows for them to easily be set up to any user with existing night vision hardware.
   
    These devices are perfectly legal to own in the United States but have never been available for commercial sale outside of military and law enforcement customers. Recently, L3Harris has released these goggles as complete kits for civilian sale for the "low" cost of $13,700 on TNVC Inc., a company which specializes in night vision production and sales and helped secure the opportunity for successful civilian sales of these devices. To note, night vision is very expensive, as in very expensive. These are even more so than the average of $9,000-10,000 for dual tube devices, but they are a fine piece of engineering and military hardware that have been used by thousands around the world in everything from peacekeeping missions, military, and civilian purposes during natural disasters and rescue missions. 

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