Dealing in the Dark
By Steve Adelmann
Copyright © 2011

Steve Adelmann is a retired Special Operations Sergeant Major with 21 years in the US Army. He completed 10 tours of duty in various combat zones during his career, including multiple tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq as a SOF sniper. Today Steve is a freelance writer and custom gunsmith. He’s the Rifle Editor for the NRA’s Shooting Illustrated magazine, as well as a columnist and contributing writer for several other publications. Through Citizen Arms, Steve builds fully custom and accurized AR-style rifles and carbines in multiple calibers and configurations. Go to http://www.CitizenArms.com for more information.

Though much is written about scopes, grips, stocks and ammunition, little serious discussion exists about how our troops are equipped for night fighting. When I was a young paratrooper the only items issued for limited visibility target engagement were parachute flares and the archaic AN/PVS-4. Suffice it to say that both are ill-suited for modern night fighting and pale in comparison to current technological offerings. Even in an era when our enemies purchase night vision technology from anyone willing to sell, US ground troops still prefer a night fight, dominating the battlefield from dusk to dawn. Today’s warriors possess the ability to illuminate the night, identify and engage threat targets both near and far. The ultra-high cost of quality night vision gear results in a sporadic capability within our military, but equipment is steadily increasing both in quality and distribution.

While different services and units issue a wide variety of limited-visibility accoutrements, the general categories they fall into are sights, lights, lasers, flash suppression and Night Vision Devices (NVDs). For simplicity I’ll refer to the entire military family of individual weapons—M16A2s & A4s, M4s, SR25s, MK18s, etc—generically as “rifles”. First a caveat: No good comes from fully disclosing our troops’ capabilities and equipment specifics in an open media source, so I’ll only touch on this subject generically and with great regard to preserving the capabilities of our fighting men and women. I will not address any tactics, techniques or procedures nor discuss use of thermal optics. If any of that bothers you, you’re rooting for the wrong side.

A quick perusal of gun magazines on a store rack would have us believe our troops routinely carry 27 pound “lightweight” rifles into battle. While every infantry platoon and Special Operations Forces (SOF) team invariably has one Soldier trying to attach one of everything to a rifle, the reality is much different than what’s depicted in the gun tabloids. In most cases the weapons of our nation’s warriors are adorned with whatever their parent units issue, with little choice other than mounting location. That last and important option comes to us courtesy of the Military Standard 1913 “Picatinney” rail so readily available on firearms these days. Picatinney rail is to tactical firearms what hook-and-loop tape is to tactical gear. The already modular nature of AR-style firearms is made even more flexible through this miracle of accessory attachment. Long gone are the days of the hose clamp, flex-tie and “100 mph tape” mounting techniques many of us struggled with.

White Light Supremacy
If the Global War On Terror has done anything for the military, it’s forced modernization to spread across all services and specialties. A few years ago only our elite units had dedicated gun-lights securely mounted to their rifles. Fortunately the criticality of being able to illuminate targets for identification and possible engagement in close quarters is now widely accepted. Aside from that, the simple act of searching rooms, outbuildings and vehicles is much more efficient with a light. The first time I saw conventional Soldiers with purpose-built lights attached to their rifles was in 2003. It was satisfying to see that what SOF units had long practiced and preached was finally trickling down to conventional forces. Fortunately the story has continued to improve due to needs generated by constant ground combat. Surefire’s Scout lights exemplify the best of the crop in reduced package size and are perfect for shooters preferring to keep their guns on a diet. When equipped with the LED head, the Scout doubles battery life over incandescent lamps. Though other companies are making less-expensive rifle lights, none have the quality, durability, variety or track record that Surefire offers. Their extensive catalogue of lights has solid solutions for any tactical shooting need. Different options for switches exist, usually in a tape-type pressure pad attached to the fore-grip or a spring-loaded tail-cap on the light itself. Since the threat of a “white-light accidental discharge” always hovers over any stealthy movement, some type of cap is recommended until the light is needed. Since overt lights make a great target for incoming fire at night, they’re generally reserved for use indoors or in special circumstances. When enemy night vision capabilities aren’t also a concern, infra-red (IR) covers help mask visible lights, providing a source of illumination when using night observation devices (NODs). If using a gun-light for IR illumination, be sure incandescent lamps or IR LEDs are being used, as standard LEDs provide no usable IR light. This solution is for short-range spotlighting only, providing no aiming reference. Regardless of which brand of light is used, gun-mounted flashlights provide a tremendous tool for the war-fighter and should be issued to anyone in a ground combat role.

Day Sights & More
Having a durable, accurate, multi-functional day sight- and the knowledge of how to use it- is a tremendous fighting rifle enhancement. All military auto-loading rifles are issued with some form of primary or back-up iron sights, and most are worthless at night by themselves. Even with tritium inserted in iron sights, identifying and engaging a target with them in total darkness is tough to do. Over the past 18 years battery-powered sights have moved to the fore and are known to be very reliable. Because they provide no magnification, “reflex” sights are essentially a window that contains a projected aiming point or reticle. The military movement towards electro-optics for ground troops began in the SOF community many years ago. Though many reflex sights are available, very few are compatible with night vision devices. The Aimpoint Comp 2 (M68) has been adopted by the US Army and Air Force and seen wide use. It can be dimmed down for use with NODs, but it’s not a stand-alone night sight. Holographic sights like the EoTech HWS have shown themselves to be equal, if not better, for daylight target engagement over the Aimpoint and are favorites among troops. The EoTech also has a night-vision setting for Image Intensified (I²) compatibility with optics mounted (or worn) behind it. While some ambient light is required for the NOD/reflex sight combo to work, this setup a vast improvement over previous night options for day sights.

To use I² equipment with magnified day scopes at night, the shooter has to focus the device specifically to the day scope, requiring a firm mount to maintain a fixed distance. Excepting Trijicon’s 3.5x and 4x ACOGs, this makes it very difficult to use head-mounted I² devices. For many users, the ACOG’s short tube design allows their use with little or no need to refocus the NODs and scopes with tritium-illuminated reticles allow target engagement under certain conditions. Ambient light of at least 20-25% helps to see the target, but the image is incredibly clear and hits are relatively easy in this configuration. I discovered this by accident while deployed but never relied solely on having enough ambient light to consider it a primary method. Still it was a nice back-up; useful when magnification was needed to identify a distant person or object. ACOGs are superbly durable scopes, and their low power and dim (at night) reticles allow them to function well with either NODs or purpose-built night scopes.

Hitting What You See
IR lasers are the most common tool our troops use to engage threat targets at night. They provide the needed range, concentration and zero-ability required for acceptable accuracy, again using NODs. Troops blessed with rail-equipped free-float tubes have many mounting options for laser placement (see photo). Though 2-piece rail-equipped hand-guards may replace standard 2-piece units on ARs, most aren’t stable enough to retain a laser’s zero. Several companies offer clamp-on rails that attach to the barrel or front sight assembly/gas block, but attaching items directly to the barrel can bake the electronics and negatively affect accuracy of the barrel itself. Mounts that attach to a flat-top upper and extend forward as well as those that mount to permanent carrying handles are also available. These usually offer one or two rail mounting surfaces for a laser, light, etc. Another option is a short rail section machined into a scope’s ring or mount that allows a laser to be placed closer to the shooter’s hands. Wherever possible, free-float tubes with Picatinney rail are preferred. Though visible lasers are available to many military units, their utility is limited by range, light conditions and the liability that comes with identifying the shooter’s position at night. Overt lasers have a couple unique niche uses, but there’s a reason they appear more often on magazine covers than affixed to real fighting rifles.

Seeing Green
The US military has more night vision models than acronym-laced categories to place them in. All are intended to allow our human eyes to see in the IR spectrum and generally fall into two functional categories: head-mounted/hand-held and weapon mounted. One Army-common device is the AN/PVS-14. This monocular is often seen in footage from Iraq and Afghanistan and though not as effective as dual-tube Night Vision Goggles (NVGs), it beats older generations of worn optics and has the advantage of being weapons-mountable. The latter attribute requires mounting aft of an optical day scope via a thread and clamp mount. Because this dramatically reduces eye-relief it’s difficult to use with magnified optics. NVGs and Monocular NODs are best served in aiming when worn and used in conjunction with an IR laser, zeroed to the rifle. Another option, better suited to magnified optics, is the inline mounting of I² night scopes forward of the day scope. There are various models distributed throughout the US Army and USMC, a good example being the AN/PVS-22. Thousands of these devices are fielded in various US military organizations and within Federal law enforcement agencies. While it can be used in hand-held mode, the PVS-22 is intended for mounting on the same sight plane but in front of the day scope. It provides a good target image as long as some ambient light (stars or moon) is present. Since there’s no magnification, zero shift or any change in eye relief this set-up is tailor made for precision fire activities and works equally well on general purpose rifles with basic optics too. Night optics like the PVS-22 are currently in high demand on the battlefield and having used it in training and operationally for my final 6 years of service, I can attest to its excellent performance.

Taming the Fire
The current war has driven home an old but simple lesson: Muzzle flash makes you a good candidate for incoming fire. Unfortunately there’s an inverse relationship between barrel length and flash: shorter barrels yield more flash with standard ammunition, mainly due to powder and gasses burning in open air instead of in a longer barrel. Several items and techniques are used to mitigate flash, including advanced powder technology. The simplest solution is to mount a better flash suppressor. The M16 family’s current “bird cage” flash suppressor/muzzle brakes are improvements over Vietnam era designs, but are found woefully lacking on today’s battlefields. Several companies have stepped up to provide our troops with effective suppression with Surefire again doing yeoman’s work. Though open prong designs provide slightly more flash reduction, Surefire’s FH series is excellently engineered to do triple duty as flash hider, muzzle brake and sound suppressor mount. The latter feature is critical, as many sound suppressor mounts perform that function only marginally and other tasks poorly. Because sound suppressors serve as a heat sink, the mount that mates it to the barrel has to hold up in long-term firing scenarios. It’s not hard to melt down poorly designed suppressor mounts through heavy firing so the design has to be done right. Yankee Hill Machine’s (YHM) Phantom flash suppressors are another excellent choice for reducing flash. These inexpensive, durable and effective accoutrements can be seen on many rifles in the hands of US combat troops. For the relatively low cost and high gain, there’s no good reason that every rifle in the hands of a US service member doesn’t already have a good flash suppressor on it.

At the end of the day the base rifle and person carrying it have more to do with effectiveness than the sum of any accoutrements. In spite of heavy advertising to the contrary, most troops keep their weapons as trim and light as possible. There are many reasons for this, not the least being a desire to maintain some ability to move quickly when the heat is on. It’s always interesting to hand an experienced Operator a “slick” M4 carbine, then hear the inevitable “Wow these things are really light when there’s nothing attached…”   A saying I came to understand while climbing around in some very rough terrain overseas was that “ounces make pounds”. When you wear your house on your back for a living that mindset becomes instinctive, if not compulsive. One of my duties while working in weapons R&D was to drive that idea home to arms industry engineers and inventors. The need for additional capabilities has to be delicately balanced against maintaining agility. Thankfully technological “shrinkery” is allowing more high quality, lightweight attachments in smaller packages every day. In many cases these devices split the opposing needs well enough to enhance target engagement without overburdening our heavily-laden troops. It’s that type of best-of-both-worlds arms configuration we should always strive to provide our fine military.

An illuminating combination: The AN/PEQ-15 (aka ATPIAL) and Scout light are a dynamic duo on the battlefield. The ATPIAL is fielded in large numbers throughout the US military with an excellent track record. Typical mounting placement is on top of the hand-guard rail (if equipped) though some shooters prefer them along the weak-hand side so controls can be easily manipulated. In addition to providing a specific IR aiming point, the ATPIAL provides an excellent IR flood capability, separate from the aiming function. When IR compromise isn’t a concern, the flood works very well to identify targets and see into shadows at night. Surefire’s Scout is a lightweight, low profile alternative to their bigger- and more powerful- gun lights. They have an integral mount built in and this version is equipped with the familiar “tape” switch, attached to the rifle’s hand-guard. Though daytime optics like the Trijicon ACOG allow some co-use with monoculars, the need for consistent positioning behind the day optic makes this setup unsuitable for primary night sighting.

Copyright © 2011 Steve Adelmann The above content is republished by Morovision Night Vision, Inc., with the permission of Steve Adelmann. It is sole and exclusive content of Steve Adelmann and may not be republished or rewritten without his prior written consent.