It’s currently three years since Russia decided to invade Ukraine and it’s a far cry from the global war on terror. In many ways a more old school, traditional land war between two similarly equipped adversaries, it has also showed us glimpses of future conflicts. Social media is filled with drone camera footage of attacks on soldiers, vehicles and buildings by small, agile aerial vehicles. Thermal cameras and scopes are everywhere and as horrific as it is to watch, it’s interesting to see advances in technology and ingenuity on the battlefield. We’re in one of those moments in history where the necessity of war is driving invention faster than it would without.

Now, this is an Airsoft blog and of course you wouldn’t expect Dragonfire (ship mounted lasers), stealth UAV’s, tanks, or hypersonic ballistic missiles at your local skirmish any time soon.

But.

There was a time when it would have been absurd to see real NVG’s at an Airsoft site. Or programmable guns. Hell, at some sites even a toilet would seem far fetched. But, here we are in 2025 and thermal imaging is creeping into your Sunday morning team deathmatch.

I know from past articles that there are always players who think I’m a bit too serious or I suggest things that are a bit over-the-top for something they regard as a casual hobby and a laugh with mates. But Airsoft has quite a wide spectrum of events and in some places, they will be looking at real world conflict to bring more toys and gadgets into the field. I mean, NVG’s don’t exactly come from the supermarket seasonal aisle.

I read recently that China is launching a chess playing robot (little smiley face, arm that moves chess pieces, probably throws Temu adverts at you to interrupt your play). Initially costing £40,000, with AI helping to design and manufacture more efficiently the cost has come down to only £300. The belief is that AI can help bring all sorts of production and development costs down so whatever seems ridiculously expensive or unobtainable at the moment probably won’t be soon. Perhaps in ten years we’ll be buying boxes of mini exploding drones for the cost of a box of grenades and just throw them up without having to worry if they get shot down.

Connectivity

The sniper at a basic level in Airsoft currently tends to be the lone assassin, equipped with little more than a rifle and sidearm, intent on roaming wild and free to score kills purely as a personal trophy. It’s a simple, fun little role to play and of course those kills are going to have some impact for sure on the enemy team, but in the next few years part of what I want to do here at stipsniper.com is help snipers expand on that and be able to add more capability to their game than just recording a few headshots on a scopecam. A sniper is a very valuable asset to a team if used correctly.

When it comes to technology, we should be looking both at the offensive and defensive side equally. Not only do we want to find equipment that allows us to do more in the field, but also look at what the field is going to use against us.

Although old tech, and something that suffered a decline in popularity, radio communications is back on the menu for many teams. Although teams themselves haven’t been as common as they used to be, giving way to players who are more focused on themselves and their own ‘brand’ on the field than being part of something bigger and more effective. It is after all a team game and ultimately to succeed teamwork is vital to secure objectives and win games.

Huddled together, communication is easy but if you want to spread your team around to hold perimeters or secure other parts of a building, shouting just isn’t going to cut it, especially if you don’t want the enemy team hearing you, so radios become essential. You might also want to connect to HQ or nearby squads or sniper elements too, to coordinate attacks or call for help defending. Radios are very basic and often cheap but probably offer the greatest advantages after a (working) gun, and yet in the UK I’d guess that around 80% of players either aren’t carrying one, or it/the headset isn’t working so it just becomes another pouch-filler or decoration.

Most simple, cheap radios like this Baofeng UV5R will do a decent job at most sites but if you find yourself playing in a very large site or one that shields a lot of signal, such as an urban site, then you might want to look at signal boosting antennae for it, and learning how to adjust the radio settings to your advantage.

Concealment

Thermal scopes are edging their way into the game now and we probably all know someone who has one. For snipers, whose entire game hinges on not being seen, it’s an enormous challenge to maintain that advantage. We can’t easily hide our heat signatures without the aid of some kind of shield or barrier between ourselves and the shooter. The old mesh suits that a lot of Airsoft snipers used to use are particularly susceptible because all those holes leak heat out, and that’s why we see Ukrainian troops binning them in favour of something much more effective.

“$4500 Thermal scope in airsoft ruins everyone’s game” – Silo Entertainment

Personally I don’t understand why you’d want to take the challenge and fun out of airsoft and “ruin everyone’s game” but you get that type of character unfortunately and they love slapping themselves on the back for it. For players with skill issues, it’s an easy way to give yourself an advantage.

We can’t choose our opponent though so it’s something we just need to deal with. Thankfully the real world has moved quickly with Fibrotex and Barracuda ponchos/tarps/suits which block thermal signatures so it won’t be a problem for long, but we will have to wait for those solutions to reach our end of the market.

It’ll also change the way we camouflage ourselves with 3D elements and will create a very different “look” to snipers in the field, but we have to move with the technology and update our equipment and techniques. Personally I hate the idea because I love my old school kit that works fine against eyeballs and nvg’s, however there’s no point playing as a sniper if everyone can see you and those thermal scopes are going to come down and down in price until most players have them. At which point there’s probably going to be little point in playing Airsoft in woodland areas unless you do have a next generation sniper suit.

Hunt the sniper against a crowd of players glued to their thermal screens would be a lot of fun.

Clothing

Clothing can obviously become more lightweight, more insulated, more designer branded for the fashion conscious (ThruDark anyone?), but in reality we’ve probably got as many options now as we’ll ever get. Most of the more recent clothing isn’t groundbreaking and a lot of the designs and ideas have already been done but are getting redone in more modern materials, such as British Army smocks, waterproof ponchos, M65 jackets and Buffalo smocks. However, more modern doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. A lot of the improvements that manufacturers aren’t for the benefit of the product, but to make the manufacturing process cheaper and increase profits. One piece construction saves paying someone to sew something together, lighter usually means using the least material possible to make the same garment etc. There’s little in the way of genuine innovation as many companies are copying each others products (or importing from the same Chinese factories and sticking their own labels on), and not a lot of companies pride themselves on delivering the best quality possible because it means a high production cost. Functionality wise, I think we have everything we need.

A few new camouflage patterns would be nice, just to break up the sea of Multicam. But as with the concealment above, anti-thermal materials might be required. There are some really good camouflage designers out there but marrying them up to manufacturers to get stuff made does seem to be a hurdle.

Carrying

Load bearing with the advent of MOLLE systems is as modular as you’re likely to get so there’s now a huge scope for customising your gear any way you like it. Increasingly the Airsoft market is looking to use more robust materials which is good, but overall I just don’t feel the modern kit is anywhere near as tough as the old heavy kit used to be – again it’s about cutting the materials cost on their end to increase profits. If I gave you a 500 denier cordura pouch and a 1000 denier cordura pouch (basically how thick the fabric is) you really wouldn’t notice the weight difference as much as the stuff you put in the pouch. It’s like the companies offering “laser cut MOLLE” because it doesn’t have the added weight of the rows of extra material that make MOLLE loops when in fact it’s just cheaper than having someone sew loops on and you can just set a machine up to do it all in seconds.

Exoskeleton systems are being tested to allow people to carry more weight, move faster or for longer, which for a lot of players might really make a difference. I’d like to see that technology applied to heavy rucksacks to help with carrying extra gear into a game. Exoskeletons for your legs to help with walking are retailing for around $1000, so they’re not an impossible acquisition already but one I bet few players will think about.

Drones

Drones always crop up in conversation. Lots of players want to use them, nobody wants to risk it, because everyone wants to shoot them down. A few site photographers have used them to showcase sites but until the costs drastically come down, they’ll be too risky an asset to use in a game. The idea is good though – aerial reconnaissance to check the route ahead, scouting enemy positions before an attack and being able to watch the battlefield from above to help coordinate their team. They are getting better but would need to be cheap enough as to be disposable in a combat situation. Cameras are smaller and cheaper now, a few improvements to batteries and you could probably get mini drones that can be controlled by an app on your phone.

For the sniper, it’s all about camouflage still but more important are your senses, both defensively and offensively. Big bulky old ghillie hoods did impact your hearing and vision, and even if only a little, it could be enough that you miss something. You can guarantee that with all this extra technology and new gadgets, most players will be desperate to use them to take out annoying snipers and we need to be more aware and more alert to what’s going on around us.

Of course, if you’re off to skirmish this weekend it’s not something to worry about while you’re packing gear, but it might be something to think about for the future. You don’t find solutions until you start asking the questions.

And as much as I absolutely love my vintage gear, it might be time to modernise it somewhat…