Indian Army issues tender for driver night sights

The Indian Army seeks to equip its in-service BMP-2 ICVs (pictured above) taking part in an Indian Army exercise – with TI-based DNS to improve their night-fighting capability. (Janes/Kapil Kajal)

The Indian Army has outlined the detailed requirements supporting its acquisition of thermal imager (TI)-based driver night sights (DNSs) for its in-service BMP-2/2K infantry combat vehicles (ICVs).

In a request for information (RFI) document issued by the army on 8 January, the service intends to procure approximately 2,500 TI-based DNS for BMP-2/2K and its variants such as the Carrier Mortar Tracked (CMT) vehicle and the Armoured Ambulance Tracked (AAT) vehicle.

According to the RFI document, TI-based DNS will be employed in the plains and desert terrain along the western borders of India, mountainous terrain along the northern borders (Eastern Ladakh/Central Sector/North Sikkim) of India, and island territories of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep.

The shelf-life of the sights should be at least 15 years and their operational life should be at least 10,000 hours, the RFI said.

The sights must be based on a dual-feed uncooled TI camera and a low-light camera, and they must have a liquid-crystal display (LCD) for easy observation of the area ahead of the platform, the RFI added.

The weight of a TI-based DNS should be less than 5 kg, and the detection, recognition, and identification (DRI) ranges – for the front camera – of the sights must be 600, 400, and 200 m respectively.

The rear-view camera must provide TI and low-light feed up to a distance of 100 m, and the continuous operation time of the sight must be eight hours.