Technological advantage at night now determines the outcome of modern conflicts by offering decisive tactical and strategic impunity.
In summary
The ability to operate at night is no longer a luxury but a prerequisite for survival on the modern battlefield. This paradigm shift, which began during World War II and was perfected during the Gulf War, is based on a major technological advance in optronics. The use of light-intensifying night vision goggles and infrared thermal cameras allows armed forces to transform darkness into an operational sanctuary. This asymmetry offers a massive psychological and tactical advantage, allowing them to strike a blind enemy. However, this dominance is now being challenged by the democratization of these technologies. Control of the electromagnetic spectrum and thermal signature management are becoming the new challenges. In the air and on the ground, not owning the night means accepting total vulnerability to an adversary capable of seeing the invisible.
Darkness as a new operational sanctuary
For millennia, nightfall imposed a forced pause on armies around the world. Darkness limited coordination, increased the risk of friendly fire, and made navigation impossible. Today, this natural constraint has become the preferred environment for the most advanced armies. The American doctrine of “Own the Night” expresses this desire to dominate the circadian cycle. Operating at night allows movements to be concealed from the civilian population and conventional optical satellites. This reduces the effectiveness of enemy small arms, which often lack night vision systems.
Nighttime offers kinetic protection. It allows targets to be approached with greater discretion. For a special forces unit, darkness is a force multiplier. It allows a small unit to surprise a larger contingent. The confusion generated by a nighttime attack on an unequipped adversary is total. Fear of the invisible paralyzes the enemy command. This domination is not only physical, it is deeply psychological.
Light intensification technology
The first pillar of night vision is based on the intensification of residual light. Night vision goggles (NVGs) capture photons from the moon, stars, or night sky. These photons strike a photocathode, which converts them into electrons. These electrons are then multiplied by a microchannel plate before striking a phosphorescent screen. The result is the characteristic green, or more recently white, image of the scene being observed.
Current technologies, known as third generation, use gallium arsenide for increased sensitivity. The accuracy is such that a soldier can read a map or identify a face from several hundred meters away. These devices operate in the near-infrared band, between 0.7 and 1.1 micrometers. However, they require a minimal light source. In a cave or windowless building, they become ineffective without the addition of an active infrared illuminator, which can betray the user’s position to an equally equipped enemy.
The revolution in infrared thermal imaging
Unlike intensification, thermal imaging does not depend on light. It detects infrared radiation emitted by any object with a temperature above absolute zero. Thermal sensors measure temperature differences between a human body, a tank engine, or the surrounding ground. This technology operates in the mid- and far-infrared bands (3 to 14 micrometers).
Thermal imaging is essential for penetrating smoke screens, fog, or dense vegetation. It allows camouflaged enemies to be spotted instantly. Modern combat vehicles, such as the M1A2 Abrams or Leopard 2 tanks, are equipped with panoramic thermal cameras. These systems often have a detection range exceeding 5,000 meters (5 km). The ability to identify a target before it is within visual range is the essence of technological superiority.
The critical importance for air operations
Combat aviation was the first to benefit greatly from night vision. For a fighter or helicopter pilot, flying at night close to the ground without visual aids is a suicide mission. The integration of FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) systems has changed the game. These sensors, mounted in mobile turrets, allow the pilot to “see” the terrain through the darkness.
During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, AH-64 Apache helicopters opened the conflict by destroying Iraqi radars in the middle of the night. They used their thermal sensors to navigate at very low altitudes and strike with surgical precision. US Air Force pilots use helmet-mounted night vision goggles to maintain situational awareness during in-flight refueling or dogfights. Without these technologies, the air campaign would have been limited to daylight hours, giving Iraq time to repair its infrastructure each night.
Historic successes of nighttime dominance
One of the most iconic examples of a successful nighttime operation is the 2011 raid on Abbottabad. Navy SEALs used stealth helicopters and four-tube panoramic night vision goggles (GPNVG-18) to infiltrate bin Laden’s compound. The darkness allowed them to surprise the guards and carry out the assault in less than 40 minutes without any American casualties. The coordination of the assault, despite the crash of a helicopter, was made possible by each operator’s perfect vision in total darkness.
Another major success was the Battle of 73 Easting during the Gulf War. American tanks, equipped with first-generation thermal sights, wiped out divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard during a sandstorm and in the middle of the night. The Iraqis, who could not see more than a few meters ahead, were destroyed by fire from positions more than 2,500 meters (2.5 km) away.
Bitter failures due to lack of night vision
Conversely, military history is littered with failures due to poor management of darkness. Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, aimed at rescuing American hostages in Iran, ended in disaster. Lack of coordination and difficulties navigating at night in a dust storm led to a collision on the ground, killing eight soldiers. The technology of the time was not mature enough to compensate for the adverse environmental conditions.
More recently, during the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Russian units demonstrated a glaring inability to operate at night. Lacking night vision goggles for the infantry and thermal cameras on their older vehicles, Russian columns often stopped at nightfall. This allowed Ukrainian forces, better equipped by NATO countries with modern optronics, to carry out devastating ambushes. The absence of night vision transforms a modern army into a static and vulnerable force.
Technological proliferation and the end of impunity
For decades, the United States and its allies had a monopoly on nighttime operations. Those days are over. High-quality night vision sensors are now available on the civilian market and are being mass-produced by China. Non-state groups, such as the Taliban and drug cartels, are now using high-performance NVS.
This democratization is forcing regular armies to innovate. Image fusion systems are emerging, combining thermal and intensification in a single eyepiece. This allows users to benefit from both the details of residual light and thermal contrast. At the same time, combating thermal signatures is becoming a priority. New uniforms incorporate materials that block infrared radiation from the human body. Vehicles use special paints and exhaust gas cooling systems to become “invisible” to enemy sensors.
Electronic warfare is also making its way into the darkness. Jamming the frequencies used by laser rangefinders or saturating optical sensors with high-power lasers are emerging tactics. Night is no longer a guaranteed sanctuary, but a contested battlefield where superiority depends on the ability to process information faster than the adversary.
The evolution towards augmented vision and artificial intelligence
The future of nighttime operations lies in the integration of augmented reality. The U.S. Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) projects tactical data, maps, and friendly positions directly onto the soldier’s night vision goggles. Artificial intelligence helps automatically identify threats in the thermal video stream, reducing the cognitive load on the combatant.
This development transforms the soldier into a sensor within a global network. Data collected by a pair of night vision goggles can be transmitted in real time to a drone or command center thousands of miles away. Nighttime then becomes a transparent data environment. The issue is no longer just seeing in the dark, but understanding and analyzing the environment faster than the enemy.
Technological asymmetry in the dark remains the most discriminating factor in modern lethality. A force that loses its ability to see at night instantly loses its strategic initiative. The optronic arms race will never end because, in the silence of the shadows, the one who blinks first is often the one who will not wake up.
Sources:
Modern War Institute at West Point, Own the Night or Die, 2024.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Night Vision Technology Evolution, 2023.
US Army Acquisition Support Center, IVAS Program Overview, 2025.
Janes Defense Weekly, Thermal Imaging and the Modern Battlefield, 2024.
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance, 2025.
Centre d’Etudes Stratégiques Aérospatiales (CESA), Night Warfare in Aviation History, 2023.
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