XTRAIM© WS: from a virtual prototype to the final design

Weapon systems
Defence
Land

Type Insight
Published 30 Mar 2022
Last updated 29 June 2022

The development of the XTRAIM© weapon sight marked a new era for Thales’ optronic teams. Using the IMAGE’INN simulation lab, they co-designed the system directly with end-users, from virtual prototypes to operational testing. The result is a compact, integrated day/night sight with de-camouflaging capabilities designed for real-world combat.

How do you design a revolutionary weapon sight? By building it virtually, side-by-side with the soldiers who will use it.

XTRAIM© was co-designed from day one with soldiers, using virtual prototypes and real-world feedback to ensure mission-ready precision.

Boosting the effectiveness of dismounted soldiers

XTRAIM© boosts dismounted soldiers' effectiveness with all-in-one day/night vision, decamouflage and IR targeting, no matter the conditions.

The teams at Thales’ centre of excellence for dismounted soldier optronics in Saint-Héand have been using a new simulation tool since November 2019. Initially developed to simulate airborne optronic solutions, the IMAGE’INN co-design and demonstration lab has been in use since 2013 at Thales’ facility in Élancourt, where it has repeatedly proven its value as a design aid.

Since 2019, it has allowed soldier optronic teams to work more closely with operational personnel, collating the requirements and insights of end-users at every stage in the design process, from needs definition to demonstration.

The XTRAIM© weapon sight is the first product to be designed at Saint-Héand using the IMAGE’INN tool since the production of the latest additions to Thales' popular range of thermal imagers, Sophie Ultima and Sophie Optima.

The teams met regularly with end-users, using IMAGE’INN to choose the best options and produce the first virtual prototypes of the new XTRAIM© weapon sight. They then built a demonstrator, which was further optimised in conjunction with users until a final design was nailed down.

IMAGE’INN relies on a database of realistic images of theatres of operation developed by the Thales's training & simulation teams. A military advisor helps to add concealed threats to the images and develop animated scenarios of operational situations. The IMAGE’INN software then simulates a whole range of weather conditions, rain, fog and various lighting, from bright sunlight to near total darkness, to demonstrate different ways of revealing concealed targets (IR, IL or IR+IL).

In dark conditions, traditional simulations usually display infrared images in black and white, but with IMAGE'INN, infrared images are perfectly simulated, an innovation developed entirely by Thales.

With IMAGE’INN, the main features and interfaces of XTRAIM© could be quickly prototyped, and then served as the visual basis for further demonstrations and developments. One of the following major challenges with XTRAIM© was to build a demonstrator from the virtual prototype in record time.

Personnel from a range of conventional forces and special forces units worked with the demonstrator from the earliest design phase. Thales was able to capitalise on their feedback, both inside the IMAGE’INN environment itself and in highly realistic firing conditions outdoors. Once we fully understood their requirements and constraints, we were able to offer them a solution that perfectly matched their current operational needs.

Xavier Gonon - Product Design Authority

XTRAIM© is a revolutionary weapon sight solution. In a single lightweight and compact package, it combines a reflex red-dot sight, a thermal night sight and a day/night target capable of de-camouflaging, which was previously unavailable to assault rifle users. The new product also has an outstanding ergonomic design, and is optimised for high maintainability. It is ready for collaborative combat, designed to accommodate new developments and future technologies, and is compatible with the entire range of Thales' night vision goggles.

By augmenting the soldier's perception in the battlespace, XTRAIM© enables dismounted infantry to make faster and more informed decisions, helping to keep them safe.