Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/713424
Situation awareness and fire con- trol system The choice of the configuration with an un- manned turret made providing the command- er with proper conditions for observing the surrounding, typical of German constructions, quite challenging. The commander has six fixed periscopes: one wide-angle, directed forward, two "looking" left, and four directed at the right side (two of them have been built in the slid- ing cover of the hatch). The mentioned devices provide a limited field of view that is slightly above 180°. The main observation device is the PERI RTWL-B panoramic periscope mounted in the turret. The head of the device may fully rotate in horizontal place. Vertically, the optical axis may move from -15° to +45°. The sight has been integrated with a laser distance measurer LDM 38 that emits a radius of wavelength of 1.57 µm. PERI RTWL-B is stabilized in both planes day- night device. Observation in daytime condi- tions is available thanks to two channels. The first one is a color CCD camera, the image of which is displayed in the commander's screen. However, German engineers decided that de- pending only on a digital means is too risky. That is why PERI RTWL-B has a second, pure- ly optical day observation channel. The de- vice has been mounted within the axis of the turret. The tube goes into the interior of the combat-assault compartment. The lower part of the optical system, including a single optic eyepiece, has been mounted between the po- sitions of the commander and the gunner, so that, theoretically, they may both use it. The day channel of the sight allows observation in day mode in one of three zoom settings, with the field of view of 22.17x16.7° (wide), 11.3x8.5 (medium), and 2.8x2.1 (narrow). www.fragoutmag.com