MELIOS: Status report of the U.S. Army's eyesafe laser rangefinder program

Richard C. Renairi; Anthony M. Johnson

doi:10.1117/12.17854

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1 July 1990 MELIOS: Status report of the U.S. Army's eyesafe laser rangefinder program

Richard C. Renairi; Anthony M. Johnson

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Proceedings Volume 1207, Laser Safety, Eyesafe Laser Systems, and Laser Eye Protection; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.17854
Event: OE/LASE '90, 1990, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

In 1980 the Army fielded the AN/GVS-5 Nd:YAG hand held laser rangefinder. The use and widespread deployment of the AN/GVS-5 was limited due to concerns for eyesafe operation in training and forceonforce battlefield simulation scenarios. In 1983 the Arniy awarded contracts to develop 1. 54 nticron laser rangefinders to provide eyesafe operation for both training and tactical use. Following the early developmental efforts the Army awarded in 1988 a Development Production Prove Out (DPPO) contract to finalize the design and establish the system to produce thousands of these devices. The product is designated as the AN/PVS-6 Mini Eyesafe Laser Infrared Observation Set (MELIOS) . This paper summarizes the system''s history projected performance and the present status of the program. 1. THE NEED FOR A LASER RANGEFINDER There has always been a need for accurate range information in military operations. Until the advent of the laser the ability to satisfy this need was at best extremely limited. Manual rangefinding techniques include the use of maps and compasses and the estimation of distance to a target by its relative size in sighting optics. These techniques are slow difficult to master and the skills quickly erode unless constantly practiced. Studies have shown that manual range estimation techniques typically have an error of 27. Personal experience indicates that this error is usually an underestimation of the actual range to a target. It is desirable to

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Richard C. Renairi and Anthony M. Johnson "MELIOS: Status report of the U.S. Army's eyesafe laser rangefinder program", Proc. SPIE 1207, Laser Safety, Eyesafe Laser Systems, and Laser Eye Protection, (1 July 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.17854

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