Night Vision Image Intensifier Tube Data and Omni Classifications

This is a great resource for people looking to identify their night vision image intensifier tube or night vision gen.

After a few months, it looks like this page has become the primary resource across the world for US Gen3 Omni data. It's been a collaborative effort and the data is expanding constantly as I add further information. So it's probably time to clarify how to use the data. I'm also splitting the page because it's getting WAY too big now... I never realized when I started this project just how big it would get and how much data I would collect. A big thanks to everyone who helps me keep it accurate also - It's only now that I'm finally getting down to the real detail for some tubes while for others, I have little more than a stock number. Anyway, the notes...

Note 1. The "OMNI" data isn't a specification. Gen3 Omni VII is a specification, but not a performance specification. Omni refers to the contract under which a tube was purchased, not the performance level of the tube. Since I published this data, it's confused a LOT of people, so to clarify, the TUBE DATA under the OMNI headings represents the typical performance of US used tubes of the MX10160 family and represents the latest iteration of that tube. That changes slightly with Omni VIII but I'm still collecting data on that.

Note 2. ALL tubes of the SAME family (eg, MX-10160A/AVS-6 ) perform roughly the same. A MX-10160A/AVS-6 tube made in 1995 performs roughly the same as a tube made in 2009. If you find a MX-10160A that's been made under Omni VII, don't go assuming it performs like an OMNI VII tube. It's still the same as the Omni IV/V tube. AND YES, they made some of these under OMNI III.

Note 3. The word MILSPEC gets used a lot, so here's the ACCURATE DEFINITION of what it is. It refers to tubes that meet a performance specification as defined for a US Military contract. If a contract comes out for tubes from the military, then the tubes made for that contract that meet that specification ARE MILSPEC. ALL OMNI TUBES (tubes made for Omni Contracts) are MILSPEC and every tube will be made for a contract, however ANY tubes that are made to a specific specification and meets or exceeds ALL provisions of that specification ARE ALSO MILSPEC according to that specification. Hence, a MX-10160A manufactured in 2007 is technically a MILSPEC OMNI VII tube. 

Note 4. To avoid the confusion this causes, you'll notice I've listed some tubes only under certain contracts. This typically represents the contracts under which that tube were primarily ordered and this is how these tubes should be viewed.

Note 5. Tubes other than the MX10160 series are also included ( eg MX11620, MX11729 ) - These tubes have different performance specifications. See the tube breakdown details for more information.

Note 6. To know what tube you really have, look for the NSN in the tube data breakdowns. Keep in mind though, military records aren't as consistent as you might imagine...

Sorry to confuse the matter further with this explanation, but some people seem to think that a MX10160A from 2007 is significantly better than a MX10160A from 1995. On paper, they are pretty much the same, though slight differences may be present in the manufacturing process and they did vary the performance specification slightly with each Omni iteration. However they usually vary the suffix as well, since for aviation purposes, you really don't want to go accidentally mixing tubes of different performance specifications.

Understanding US Omni classifications.

Nearly all military US Gen3 devices are classified by FOM ( Figure of Merit ) but are also differentiated by the contract under which they were produced. These contracts ( Omnibus contracts ) each placed different minimum performance characteristics on manufactured products. As such, a US milspec tube could fall under any one of these procurements but most commonly, tubes are referred to the contract under which they were first produced. Based on the MX10160 tube, the following table provides approximate performance levels for each Omni generation.

Thankyou to all who have helped with collecting this information - particular thanks also to:

• Edward R Wilcox Jr. 
• Flex297 from US forums.
• Stanley from US forums.

The initial collection of data and creation of the table would not be possible without their help and postings of general information to the Internet.

PLEASE NOTE! This is a WORK IN PROGRESS. There is no simple, complete and accurate table for this information ANYWHERE so it may change once in a while as I tweak it and make any corrections.

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Omni Classifications

Tube Detail: ( See links to more detailed tube data. )

Other tubes - US. 

ITT - 

NOTE: Although F9800A does not exist ( ITT never made Omni I tubes ) the reference to it exists in military literature, leading to a belief that ITT later made a civilian version.

Litton/NGEOS/L3

Photonis, KATOD and others

New Omni IX standard - Comparison to Omni VIII.

This page originally appeared on https://aunv.blackice.com.au/ and Australian night vision page. It is/was one of the only resources of its kind as far as a collective of night vision image intensifier data and specs. We wanted to make sure no matter what it lives on.