Apache Attack

[appu_sen]

wonder how would the thermal imaging work in an Indian summer with ambient hotter than the body.
Guess, target everything which shows up as black.

[bigross86]

I know that the systems that I've encountered don't merely identify person if he's colder than his background. If the ambient is hotter than the body, then you will still see body shaped imaged moving around due to the temp difference, it all depends on how precise the imager is.

Most thermal imagers work because they identify a body at 37 degrees when the background is colder, so you have a heat blob on a field of cold. If the situation were reversed, you'd still see a blob, just a cold blob on a field of hot. Either way, as long as there is a temp difference and the imager is precise, it shouldn't make a difference.

[Chogy]

^^ Perfect description. The older AIM-9 missiles simply detect IR emissions. They did not compare that IR to other nearby objects, which made them vulnerable to flares, the sun, even hot rocks on a desert floor. Thermal imaging is microprocessor based, generating a semi-synthetic view of the world, all based upon temperature.

[Albany Rifles]

wonder how would the thermal imaging work in an Indian summer with ambient hotter than the body.
Guess, target everything which shows up as black.

Well I can tell you in 1988 at FT Irwin, CA in August with ambient temps hovering near 116 F at 1400 the ones on my Bradleys worked just fine. We were able to pick out personnel and vehicles are 5 km easy.

[bigross86]

wonder how would the thermal imaging work in an Indian summer with ambient hotter than the body.
Guess, target everything which shows up as black.

Well I can tell you in 1988 at FT Irwin, CA in August with ambient temps hovering near 116 F at 1400 the ones on my Bradleys worked just fine. We were able to pick out personnel and vehicles are 5 km easy.

Thermal imaging is highly effective as a targeting system and we used to use it during the daytime as well as at night time. Our commanders taught us that replacing an expensive thermal imager after however many hours of use was always better in the long run than dying because the regular sights couldn't identify a camouflaged enemy. We wouldn't use the thermal imager as our default sights during the day, we used the optics, but if you had the time, we would go over the target area again with the thermals, to see if perhaps there was something we missed on the first go around with the optical sights, or if you couldn't spot anything at all with the optics.

Funnily enough, when it comes to finding the people trying to kill you, most people err on the side of caution

[Shamus]

Thermal imaging is highly effective as a targeting system and we used to use it during the daytime as well as at night time. Our commanders taught us that replacing an expensive thermal imager after however many hours of use was always better in the long run than dying because the regular sights couldn't identify a camouflaged enemy. We wouldn't use the thermal imager as our default sights during the day, we used the optics, but if you had the time, we would go over the target area again with the thermals, to see if perhaps there was something we missed on the first go around with the optical sights, or if you couldn't spot anything at all with the optics.

Funnily enough, when it comes to finding the people trying to kill you, most people err on the side of caution

Aye Ross...could have used thermals working the beautiful city of Detroit time to time....my last visit before retirement earned me three rounds with one hitting just in front of the driver side door

[bigross86]

And you're still here to tell the story. You just need to be here more often to tell more stories...

[Albany Rifles]

Benny,

Great point.

I would usually be on day sight while my gunner was on thermal sight.

It was amazing what you can pick up by the contrast.

We also use to flip back and forth on the contrast on the thermals as well. Sometimes the red on black was better than black on red and vice versa.

Day sight would pick up color contrasts, sun glints or lights at night.

And at night the driver was on passive which also gave us another viewpoint.

[lemontree]

wonder how would the thermal imaging work in an Indian summer with ambient hotter than the body.
Guess, target everything which shows up as black.

It worked perfectly well 15 years ago in the heat of the plains of Punjab,....and today they have better versions of thermal imagers.