Infrared Binoculars

Sergeant Al Apone using his Infrared Binoculars.

The Infrared Binoculars were a pair of binoculars that, as the name implies, could see in infrared vision used by the United States Colonial Marine Corps. High ambient temperature were known to impair their effectiveness.

Sergeant Al Apone carried a pair of Infrared Binoculars when he and 2nd Battalion Bravo Team were dispatched to the colony Hadley's Hope on Acheron in order to investigate a loss of contact. However, he only briefly used the binoculars to scan the colony before the team approached it, keeping it slung around his neck for the rest of the mission.

Non-Canon Depictions

Aliens novelization

In the novelization of Aliens, the Infrared Binoculars are replaced by Sergeant Apone's suit's visor, which features an image intensifier. The scanner's internal computer magnifies the available light and clans up the view as much as it can, resulting in a bright picture that is "still luridly" tinted and full of contrast, but "It was enough."

Behind the Scenes

The Infrared Binoculars prop used in Aliens are actually a pair of real night vision goggles — the Fero D-51 (or Image-Intensifier Goggles BM 8208), which were used by the German Army.

The same type of goggles are also used in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights. In the film, they are used by the character Saunders, acting as a spotter, to assist Bond in covering the escape of General Georgi Koskov. Given the film was, like Aliens, shot at Pinewood Studios (at its 007 Stage), it is possible that the binoculars are in fact the same ones used in Aliens.

Appearances

• Aliens

Gallery

A close-up of the binoculars' lenses.

Behind the scenes image of Apone with his binoculars slung.