Effectiveness of TI (thermal imaging)

[gingertanker]

The TI shows hotter objects as brighter, so if the temperature of the terrain is warmer than a human, the terrain will be brighter. but you would still see the human because of him being in a different shade than the terrain.

As far as IDing AFVs, I think for a trained gunner at decent contact ranges (1500-2000) telling western and eastern designs apart is quite easy. telling the exact variant can be very hard but than again telling the exact variant of tanks (for instance T-55 or T-62) at 2000 meters with the regular sights in broad day light is not that easy either....

[gingertanker]

Regarding AFV recognition with tank sights:
finally tracked down this photo...as far as identification goes:

2008, Lebanese Border:From the sight of my Merkava Mk2b, At a range of roughly 2300 meters, these two UN white painted(!) Leclercs are not so easy to tell apart from any other western tank. BTW they were impossible to see on thermal, which I still cant explain to this day.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/SANY0168.jpg