With Eye to Future, Army Gears Up Against Lasers

The Army is purchasing glasses strong enough to protect against shrapnel, bullets and even potential laser beam attacks, officials at the Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston say.

About 100,000 of the special sunglasses and eyeglasses--formally labeled ballistic/laser protective spectacles--will be issued to troops in deployable combat units by December, Brig. Gen. Alcide LaNoue, commander of the academy at the San Antonio army base, said Tuesday.

The Army expects all soldiers to be sporting the special eye wear by 1990, LaNoue said. American Optical Corp. will manufacture the glasses, which the Army says will cost less than $30 each.

Forty times more damage-resistant than normal glasses, the Army eye wear will come in tinted or clear plastic, fitted with green lenses for protection from laser beams. The glasses are strong enough to withstand a .22-caliber bullet fired from 30 feet away, officials said.

LaNoue said the laser protection is important because the Soviets may be developing offensive laser weapons. “The battlefield of the future is going to have quite a few lasers in the environment. If we’re protected, they may drop that as a weapon,” he said.

Officials also hope to prevent peacetime injuries caused by lasers used as range finders or target designators.

Capt. Frances McVeigh, an eye wear expert at the academy, said 9% of the casualties during the Vietnam War involved eye injuries--most resulting from shrapnel and other objects.

McVeigh said the academy recently received several pairs of the glasses to allow technicians to learn how to fit them and make prescription inserts.