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Show Fighter Country August 5. 2004 I NVGs Viewing the world through a whojejiew set By Senior Airman Madelyn Waychoff 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs On a dark night a search and rescue team is out to rescue a downed pilot, the only sign of his whereabouts is a bright flashing light, but to all eyes except the rescuers', he's invisible. The pilot is behind enemy lines and doesn't want to give his position away to any but those there to help him. Flicking a small light switch on his harness seems to do nothing, but the pilot has just given away his position. The flick of the switch turned on a strobe light attached to the pilot's harness. A cap on the light prevents anyone from seeing the light, but the rescuers with night vision goggles see a bright, constantly flashing light, and make their way to the pilot's location. The cap turns the light into infrared invisible to the naked eye but a bright beacon when seen thru NVGs. Although the use of NVGs for rescue missions is important, it is onjy one of the many uses for NVGs in the Air Force. People, buildings, vehicles and details of the landscape viewed through night vision goggles appear almost as if illuminated while the same objects viewed with a naked eye would appear only as indistinct shadows (or won't be visible at all), according to About.com. NVGs work by amplifying visible and near-infrared light, meaning they take what light there is and enhance it to allow users to see more than can be seen with the naked eye. Pilots in the 388th Fighter Wing use NVGs during night flying missions and deployments for flying nighttime combat sorties. "When pilots go out at night (the NVGs) let them see farther out," said Senior Airman Nathaniel Roddy, 34th Fighter Squadron life support journeyman. "(Without that capability), they'd basically be flying blind. It makes night become day for them." Flying with the goggles is no easy task, according to www.F-16.net. Depth perception suffers because there is no peripheral vision. The goggles only have a 40-degree circular field of vision, so pilots must continually turn their heads to see to the sides. Pilots take refresher night vision goggle courses every 120 days. "It's important the pilots are fully qualified on the NVGs so they can support the mission," said Airman Roddy. "If the pilot's not qualified to use NVGs and he flies a night mission, he puts himself and the mission in jeopardy." Night vision goggles work and look like binoculars, only with the capability to see in the dark. Light passes through an objective lens and an image intensifier to the eyepiece the pilot looks through. Inside the image intensifier tube the light energy is absorbed and converted into electrons. The electrons are drawn through a plate that multiplies them thousands of times. When the electron image strikes the phosphor screen, it causes the screen to emit light visible to the human eye. according to About.com. The phosphor screen sends out the light in exactly the same pattern and intensity as the light collected by the objective lens, so the bright nighttime image in the eyepiece is exactly what is seen outside, although electronically enhanced. "(NVGs) have a range of 5 miles and cost about $9,000," said Airman Roddy. The goggles are inspected every 180 days. "We go through a series of tests on them," said Airman Roddy. "We inspect the lens for vision problems like shading, edge glow, bright spots, (unusual patterns on the lens) or glare. If all those check out good, we do what we call a gang test where we do colormation and resolution tests." "Flying with night vision goggles gives us an advantage," said Capt. Kirk Schultz, 4th Fighter Squadron pilot. "It's a capability many of our adversaries don't have, and it's invaluable to have at night. "When I fly combat sorties wearing the goggles it gives me added security because I have more opportunities to see the threats out there." Photos by Staff Sgt. Nakita Carhsio Top: Airman Mark Fredrickson, 4th Fighter Squadron life support technician, hooks night vision goggles up to a tester to check for problems such as brightness, shading, edge glow and focus. Left: Senior Airman Michael Koles, 4th FS life support technician, attaches NVGs to a pilot's helmet. Life support technicians put the NVGs through a series of tests every 180 days to ensure they are fully functional when pilots wear them in flight. Below: NVG cost about $9,000 and are used in both training and real world missions by pilots. Deployments 729th ACS Airmen make most of four month tour of Balad AB, Iraq Below: Col. Blair Hansen, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander, and Senior Airman Pamela Riley, tack senior airman stripes onto Airman Riley's husband, Kody, during a recognition ceremony June 30. The Rileys are deployed from the 729th Air Control Squadron here. Master Sgt. Dave Hipp, 332 Expeditionary Air Control Squadron first sergeant said, "This Is the only physical contact this married Photos courtesy ol tho 729th Air Control Squadron couple may have while they're here." Left: Airmen 1st Class Matthew Pelland, Amanda Besade, Dereck Blackburn and Aaron Drapeylo stand In front of an American mural In Iraq. The airmen are deployed with the 332nd EACS from the 729th ACS here. Bottom left: A TPS-75 Radar deployed with the 729th Air Control Squadron here keeps watch over the skies at Balad Air Base, Iraq. |