Birc Looks for Bill.

The Swedish Army is currently testing a third-generation infrared sight for the Bill 2 produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics. Designated Bite, the sight uses a quantum well infrared photodetector (Qwip)-based fixed detector array. While the GaAs detector chips are manufactured in Sweden by the industrial Microefectronics Centre in Stockholm to guarantee total supply independence, the cooling system and detector electronics are supplied by Flir Systems. As the chart herewith shows, the Birc offers vastly improved performance -- and more notably target identification at close to the full range of the Bill 2 missile. This confirms the need for certain armed forces involved in multiple-nation missions to be able to fully identify a target prior to pulling the trigger. The Birc has an aperture of 110 mm and two electrically controlled fields of view: 4.6 [degrees] x 3.4 [degrees] and 2.3 [degrees] x 1.7 [degrees]. The unit drops onto the existing day sight without any further adjustment. A hand-held version of the Birc is also under study. The subject of sighting and night vision technology will be reviewed in a forthcoming issue of Armada International.

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