November
12, 2006: The U.S. Army is buying 7,500 Thermal Weapon Sights II (TWS II).
These are weapons sights that detect differences in heat. This allows the
shooter to see targets at night, or through sand storms, snow and mist day or
night. There are three versions of TWS II, with 23 percent being the Light
Thermal Weapon Sights (LTWS, for assault rifles and AT-4 anti-tank rifles), 52
percent are Medium Thermal Weapon Sights (MTWS, for 5.56mm and 7.62mm machine-gun)
and 25 percent are Heavy Thermal Weapon Sights (HTWS, for heavy weapons like
the .50 caliber machine-gun, and sniper rifles.) The LTWS has a battery that
lasts 25 hours, those for the other two last 18.) The two larger sites have 3x
zoom. On average, each sight costs, on average, about $10,000. This new
generation of thermal sights are lighter and more reliable.
