ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION OF CONTEMPORARY NIGHT VISION GOGGLES ON THE BASIS OF ELECTRONIC-OPTICAL CONVERTER BY THE HELICOPTER CREWS. PROSPECTIVE HELICOPTER OPTOELECTRONIC SYSTEMS OF AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE/SURVEILLANCE

The paper studies the matters of using of night vision goggles by the helicopter crews of the State Aviation of Ukraine. The analysis of the perspective systems that can replace night vision goggles based on electronic-optical converter and provide round-the-clock and all-weather flights, landing of the helicopter on unprepared and unlit areas in poor visibility was treated. Currently, the practice of using combat and transport helicopters involves their wider use in the night-time conditions (air warfare, delivery of goods, search-and-rescue operations). Due to low light levels, until recently, most night-time target acquisition tasks have been related with the necessities of providing the artificial target illumination, but in certain instances such illumination deteriorates visibility through an lighttight, phosphorescent atmospheric shells or it just can‟t be carried out. The need for a large number of channels included in the optoelectronic system, caused by the variety of tasks that are solved by it, as well as the imperfection of each individual channel. This forces them to be combined to improve the efficiency of the optoelectronic systems themselves, so that the disadvantages of one channel are offset by the advantages of another. In fact, it is only possible way to ensure the fulfilment of combat task by combining channels operating in different spectral bands in one scheme and by combining detection devices. It can be stated that, despite the undisputed advantages of optoelectronic systems as compared to night-vision goggles, in case of the selecting for installing on a helicopter of optoelectronic systems, it should take into account the much higher cost of optoelectronic systems compared with night-vision goggles. Therefore, the rationale for installing optoelectronic systems must be determined based on the scope of the executing tasks, which are to be conducted by a specific helicopter.