Running a Thermal as a Primary Optic
There's a tactical truth for anyone who's been paying attention in the past decade or so:
And when I say everyone, that means everyone from peered adversaries to non-nation state actors and everyone in between. Night vision is a nearly ubiquitous mobility tool - night vision is for movement at night. Seems common sense but we have to say it more often than not when the question inevitably boils down to what to put money into first.
That question, and in turn the answer above, has lead to a number of interesting conversation about countering the threat. If the target is running NODs too it changes the game on how we aim. Running a weapon with NODs generally requires aiming with an IR laser. Yeah, passive aiming can be a thing but not beyond CQB ranges. Some would cite the lack of any equipment in the trenches of Ukraine, and I suggest the casualty figures easily disproves that. So what does a tactical package look like in 2026?
First, we cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. You need a way to aim while moving under NODs. That's an IR laser. Paint the threat, engage, disengage laser, move. Not a difficult concept. Its the same basic low-light gunfighting principle applied to tac lights. The larger question stems from not revealing a concealed firing position with a laser, since they do in fact point point both ways.
That's where thermal optics are rapidly starting to shine. The technology has advanced way beyond what we were doing in the old days of the PAS-13, and both clip-on units and dedicated scopes are becoming commonplace in hunting rigs and trickling their way into tactical loadouts more and more. Clip on units are far and away the most popular thermal optic we sell, but on the contrary a dedicated scope offers not just superior image quality in many cases, but its also eliminates a potential error vector in zero shift or parallax from a clip on no longer being collimated (aligned) with the primary scope. This leads us to examine a thermal scope as a primary optic with a mini red dot optic as a backup, either mounted on the unit or on an offset on the weapon.
Obviously the utility is there and thermals, contrary to popular belief, are every bit as effective during the day as they are at night. Couple certain features like remote viewing via wifi or bluetooth devices and you've got an interesting combination of capability and exploitation.
But running a thermal as a primary optic? Understandably there's some reservations and power management being one of them. I'm personally a big fan of the market trend migrating towards the ubiquitous 18650s with the combination of using USB-C ports for external batteries.
My personal opinion is that a dedicated thermal scope works best integrated into a larger team the same way any other purpose-role enabler does. Not a standardized weapon enabler the way NODs and IR lasers are, since these are for team mobility, but rather used the same way a Designated Marksman is. For an unsupported force this team setup would look basically the same.
Thermal optics offer a utility and capability in targeting that cannot be overlooked. Like drones and other emerging/evolving enablers, even in the low end it offers an undeniable advantage. A word to the wise- take advantage of it.
