When we were handed this old Soviet helmet with night vision goggles for vehicle drivers, the question arose of finding information about this model on the internet. It turned out that there is very little information available about this device. In most cases, we found only reviews of some modifications of this device created by enthusiasts on YouTube.

It seems that the country considered as a terrorist state is gathering everything that the Soviet Republic produced over the decades, including similar technologies, which are likely being passed down by grandfathers to their grandchildren who have ended up in Ukraine.

Night vision devices began to be developed in the Soviet Union even before World War II, and the first developments started appearing in 1935. In 1941, they began using them in automobiles, and night vision samples for weapons appeared in 1943.

PNV-57 is considered a “zero” generation device. In the kit for this device, there were always covers for round headlights of cars, which were made uniform and identical for all Soviet vehicles, including civilian ones, so that you could quickly put on the covers, wear the PNV on your head, and drive unnoticed in the darkness. These were the standards of the Soviet Union aimed at a future major war (which is happening now in Ukraine).

But in practice, PNV-57 was much worse than the idea of engineers, and it was extremely difficult to drive in it. Therefore, the 1957 development received several modifications in the future but remained a very poor night vision device compared to foreign options.

I found mentions on Wikipedia that Grad installations and some Soviet air defense systems always had PNV-57 as part of their equipment. Perhaps this outdated technology was pulled from such equipment, adding to our collection and becoming a valuable art object.