Last January, the Armée de Terre started receiving their new night vision goggles. The chosen NVG is the O-Nyx made by Thales. The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) said that the 21e RIMa and 2e Régiment Étranger d’Infanterie (2e REI) in Nîmes will receive the NVGs for the 6th Light Armoured Brigade (6e Brigade Légère Blindée) in Sahel-Saharan Strip at the beginning of 2020. For the year 3,179 of 3,519 units ordered will be to be issued to the troops with the remainder to be issued next year.

Thousands more of the NVG will be ordered with troops in all branches able to receive them by 2025.

Similar to the Thales Lucie NVG which it is replacing, the O-NYX has improved resolution and wider field of view. According to the DGA, the increase in the viewing area with the O-NYX is 70 percent better at 51 degrees.

Getting new generation night vision goggles is part of the "2019-2025 Loi de programmation militaire" These include the gun Glock 17 Gen 5, the HK416F assault rifle, FN SCAR-H PR as the sniper rifle, flame retardant clothing, and protective vests.

If you remember, we posted a story about a Lucie-style NVG that G&G Armament was developing back in 2017 and a prototype should have been displayed at the IWA Outdoor Classics 2017 but none of that happened. But if a company wants to make a new dummy NVG that airsoft players would like to use for loadout purposes then the a dummy Thales O-Onyx NVG should be a candidate.

Below is the video from the Armée de Terre and an online machine translation of their press release:

The French Army’s 21st Marine Infantry Regiment (21e RIMa) at Fréjus took delivery of the first O-NYX night vision goggles (NVG).

Designed by Thales, these binoculars benefit from improved resolution and a wider field of vision. They will allow Army soldiers to better progress in the dark and will replace the Lucie binocular goggles currently in use.

The delivery of the O-NYX binoculars is part of a broader desire to renew the equipment of the French Armed Forces under the 2020 Military Programming Law (LPM). Designed to maintain the operational superiority of the French armies, the 2019-2025 LPM focuses on improving the equipment and protection of soldiers, sailors and airmen engaged in theaters of operations.

These new night vision binoculars will equip the infantry of 21e RIMa and 2e Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) of Nimes in the Mission context units of the 6th Light Armored Brigade early 2020 in the Sahel-Saharan region.

The Army is expected to receive 3,179 ONYX night vision binoculars this year out of the 3,519 ordered by the General Directorate of Armament (DGA); the rest of the order will be delivered in 2021. Several thousand additional units should be delivered by 2025. These night vision binoculars will eventually equip the three armies.

Main features of the O-NYX night vision binoculars:

• Length / width / height: 112 mm / 75 mm / 79 mm
• Weight: 340g
• Technology: light intensification
• Autonomy: more than 40 hours with battery or 25 hours with 1.5 V AA batteries
• Extra flat profile and close to the face, ultra-compact and very light, allowing to increase comfort for prolonged use
• Large field of vision of 51 ° (against 40 ° usually, + 70% of the area of the scene observed) which improves the perception of the environment and the mobility of the soldier

The 2020 Military Programming Law (LPM) also calls for:

• 74,596 Glock 17 GEN5 semi-automatic pistols to be delivered by 2022.
• 12,000 additional HK416 assault rifles to be delivered by this year.
• 2,620 new SCAR (Special Combat Assault Rifle) sniper rifles to French snipers to be delivered by 2022.
• 85,000 F3 flame retardant to be delivered by this year.
• 25,000 9mm composite burst and bulletproof helmets to be delivered by this year.
• 96,800 additional new generation bulletproof vests to be delivered by 2025.