That would fit and work on vehicles though, which would let them drive at night without visible lights. So still some good military applications, which means it'll probably still get a lot of funding and someone will probably manage to shrink the laser down quite a bit more. At least with a backpack-able version anyway.
Military vehicles can already drive at night without visible light. Except in the most extreme case (new moon and heavy cloud cover) - and then they can illuminate using infrared. Such a device costs <2,000 USD and is already wearable. More expensive and/or vehicle-mounted systems increase that capability to the point where you basically never even need the IR illumination, unless the vehicle is fighting inside a building (rare).
The technology in the article, aside from being heavily editorialized, will remain inferior to that for a long time. However, one possible application would be the use of higher-wavelength infrared for the active illumination, so that other militaries with night vision are unable to see your infrared headlights and then blow you up.
IR illumination (no matter the wavelength), or this laser-based night vision, would light up a military vehicle like a big bright target. For night vision to be viable in a military setting, it needs to be passive.
Is it possible to design ultra wide spread spectrum light pulses that are below the signal to noise ratio if you don't know the code? At least some RF signal sources are at least difficult to detect I guess.
Not too long ago, some luxury cars had an optional built-in night vision display, but as far as I know, they've stopped offering that feature, not sure if it was just ineffective or too inexpensive. As I age and my night vision degrades, I'd be really happy for a car with night-vision built-in, even if it meant wearing a headset or goggles.
I'm curious as to the potential harm concentrations of light can be, even if outside the human visible spectrum. Not just to people, but wildlife and plantlife.
