The U.S. Marine Corps will acquire around 1,300 Squad Binocular Night Vision Goggles to transition away from the Army/Navy Portable Visual Search devices deployed since the 1990’s, DVIDS reported Tuesday.
USMC’s program office plans to issue a final request for proposals for nearly 16,000 of the hybrid binocular night vision and clip-on thermal imaging devices in the near future. The service branch aims to use a competitive acquisition process securing the SBNVGs, in line with the Department of Defense Close Combat Lethality Task Force’s procurement priorities.Â
According to program officials, the Marine Rifle Squad will be prioritized to field the devices prior to a full implementation for the whole Ground Combat Element. USMC plans to field the SBNVGs in September 2019.