A night vision goggle has been developed to allow troops to accurately fire their weapons from the hip and from around corners, the U.S. Army announced.

The Enhanced Night Vision Goggle III, or ENVG III, is worn on a helmet but linked wirelessly to the Family of Weapon Sights, or FWS-1, which can be mounted on the M4 carbine, M16A4 rifle, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, M136 AT4 rifle, or M141 Bunker Defeat Munition.

Because the FWS-I sight transmits a video signal of the weapon sight to the ENVG III, a soldier will be able to accurately fire his weapon at night without having to bring the weapon up to eye level. Soldiers will also be able to point the weapon around a corner, acquire a target through the sight, and fire.

Other variants within the Family of Weapons Sights are being developed for sniper rifles and crew-served weapons such as the M240 and M2 machine guns, as well as the MK19 grenade launcher, according to Col. Michael Sloane, project manager for Soldier Sensors and Lasers.

Sloan disclosed the development at a recent media roundtable.

Both the ENVG III and the FWS-1 systems have undergone rigorous testing by soldiers at a number of installations and training areas during live-fire events and will continue to be refined.

Low-rate initial production of both the ENVG III and the FWS-I systems by BAE Systems and DRS Technologies begins this summer, officials said. ENVG III units will be fielded starting in 2017 and FWS-I units will be fielded beginning in 2019.

The Army plan is to equip 18 soldiers per platoon with the FWS-I and 24 soldiers per platoon with the ENVG III.