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Night Vision Goggles: How Pilots Fly in the Dark

by Max Grünwald | Sep 28, 2026 | Aviazione militare | 0 comments

On a moonless night over the desert, the world outside a fighter canopy is black. No horizon, no terrain, no other aircraft, only the glow of the instruments. Then the pilot flips two small tubes down in front of their visor, and the landscape reappears in shades of green: ridgelines, roads, the wingman's jet a mile away.

Night vision goggles, NVGs for short, turned the night from something military aviators survived into something they could exploit. Here is how the tubes work, what they cost the pilot in return, and why the cockpit had to be relit to make them usable.

Informazioni rapide

What they do: Amplify tiny amounts of existing light, including near-infrared, into a visible image
Why green: Green was considered the easiest colour to view for long periods
Key technology: Image intensifier tube; Generation III tubes use a gallium arsenide photocathode, introduced in the late 1980s
First US Army aviation NVG: AN/AVS-6 ANVIS, adopted in 1989
Field of view: About 40 degrees for standard aviator goggles such as the AN/AVS-9, far narrower than normal vision
Cockpit lighting: Must be NVG-compatible, or it floods the goggles
Modern alternative: Helmet-mounted displays with built-in night imagery, as on the F-35

Turning Starlight Into a Picture

An NVG does not see heat; that is a thermal imager. It collects whatever light there is, from the moon, the stars, a distant town, and multiplies it. Light hits a photocathode at the front of the tube and knocks out electrons. Those electrons are multiplied many times over in a microchannel plate, then strike a phosphor screen that glows. The pilot looks at that screen through an eyepiece.

The result is monochrome, and traditionally green because green was considered the easiest colour for the eye to watch for long periods. Third-generation tubes, introduced in the late 1980s, use a gallium arsenide photocathode for much better resolution, and are the standard in military aviation today.

From Ground Goggles to ANVIS

The first goggles flown by US Army aviators were adapted from equipment built for soldiers on the ground. The AN/PVS-5, the Army's mainstay for aviation from 1972 until 1990, had a limited field of view, poor light amplification and excessive weight, and pilots could not read their maps through it. Testing for a dedicated aviation replacement began in 1982, and in 1989 the Army adopted the AN/AVS-6 Aviator's Night Vision Imaging System, or ANVIS, the first goggle it used that was designed specifically for flying.

ANVIS-style goggles hang from a mount on the front of the helmet and can be flipped up out of the way. Current aviator models such as the AN/AVS-9 are widely listed with a field of view of about 40 degrees, a tunnel compared with natural vision, so NVG pilots learn to scan constantly by moving their heads.

F-16 pilot helmet with night vision goggles attached — An aircrew flight equipment technician of the 480th Fighter Squadron shows how night vision goggles attach to an F-16 pilot’s helmet at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, in 2018. Photo: U.S. Air Force / Airman 1st Class Jovante Johnson

Looking Under the Goggles

There is a trick to flying on goggles that surprises people. Pilots do not read their instruments through the tubes. The goggles sit slightly in front of the eyes, and the pilot glances underneath them at the cockpit displays with the naked eye, then back up through the tubes at the world outside.

“In the aircraft, pilots can see below their goggles to gain aspect cues so we incorporated that realism into the training.”

Jeff Prulhiere — Lockheed Martin F-16 Mission Training Center program manager, December 2004

That only works if the cockpit lighting cooperates. Ordinary cockpit lights are bright enough to swamp an image intensifier, so NVG-equipped aircraft use specially filtered lighting that the goggles barely respond to. Preparing a cockpit for NVGs is therefore not just a helmet job; every light source, from the displays to the warning lamps, has to be made compatible.

A C-130 Hercules cockpit seen through a night vision image intensifier — The cockpit of an RAF C-130 Hercules seen through an image-intensifying lens during a night resupply airdrop over Afghanistan. Photo: Cpl Steve Bain / UK MOD, Open Government Licence

What the Goggles Take Away

NVGs give a pilot the night, but not the day. The image is grainy and monochrome, the field of view is narrow, and judging distance without colour or a wide view is harder. Bright lights, a town or a burning target, can bloom and wash out the picture. Extra weight on the front of the helmet adds strain on the neck, which matters in a fighter pulling g.

That is why NVG flying is a qualification in itself, trained first in simulators and then in the air. When Lockheed Martin added NVG capability to the USAF's F-16 Mission Training Centers in 2004, the company framed it as essential rather than optional.

“Current combat missions require pilots to use NVG and master that skill in order to ensure their decisive advantage.”

Jerry Keehner — Lockheed Martin program director of simulation and training, December 2004

Helicopters, Tiltrotors and Beyond

Helicopter crews arguably depend on goggles even more than fighter pilots, because they fly low, land in unprepared spots and hover in the dark. Medical and search-and-rescue operators, military and civilian, now fly goggle-equipped missions routinely.

The newest fighters are moving the image off separate tubes and into the helmet itself. The F-35's helmet-mounted display projects night imagery straight onto the visor, doing away with clip-on goggles. But across most of the world's air forces, the familiar pair of tubes flipped down in front of the eyes is still how pilots own the night.

Sources: Wikipedia (Night-vision device; AN/PVS-5), Lockheed Martin press release of 3 December 2004, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy image records, C.W. Lemoine (video).

Domande frequenti

How do night vision goggles work for pilots?

Night vision goggles collect small amounts of existing light, from the moon, stars or distant towns, and amplify it in an image intensifier tube. Electrons released by a photocathode are multiplied in a microchannel plate and strike a phosphor screen, producing a bright green image the pilot views through an eyepiece.

Why are night vision images green?

Most image intensifiers use a phosphor screen that glows green because green was considered the easiest colour for the human eye to view for long periods. Some newer goggles use white phosphor instead, but the classic military aviation image is green.

What is ANVIS?

ANVIS stands for Aviator’s Night Vision Imaging System. The US Army adopted the AN/AVS-6 ANVIS in 1989 as its first night vision goggle designed specifically for aviation, replacing the ground-oriented AN/PVS-5. Later models include the AN/AVS-9.

What is the field of view of aviator night vision goggles?

Standard aviator goggles such as the AN/AVS-9 are widely listed with a field of view of about 40 degrees, far narrower than normal human vision. Pilots compensate by constantly moving their heads to scan the sky and terrain.

How do pilots read instruments while wearing night vision goggles?

Pilots look underneath the goggles at their instruments with the naked eye and look through the tubes at the outside world. The cockpit uses NVG-compatible lighting so that the displays do not flood the goggles with light.

Does the F-35 use night vision goggles?

The F-35 uses a helmet-mounted display that projects night imagery directly onto the pilot’s visor, so pilots do not clip conventional goggles onto the helmet. Many other fighters and most helicopters still use separate goggles mounted on the helmet.