Thermal Scope

Overview
The Thermal Scope is a usable weapon attachment in Modern Warfare 2.

When aiming down the sight, enemy soldiers show up in solid white and everything else in a gray scale. However, your teammates will show up white and red, to make it known they are on your team. Because it seesmaller than looking down a sniper scope or ACOG sight, but you can hold your breath like the sniper scope. This attachment doesn't work well on snowy maps as the snow will also show up white. Best used if you fire your weapon in bursts while aiming down the sight, since muzzle flash also appears white.

The Thermal Scope can be countered by the Cold-Blooded perk, but your player will still show, albeit not glowing white hot.

Obtaining
The Thermal Scope can be unlocked for all Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, LMGs and SMGs in multiplayer. It is unlocked when you get 20 kills while looking down an ACOG sight.

Gameplay

 * The single-player variant of the thermal scope varies in zoom depending on the weapon. The PP2000 virtually has no zoom, while a sniper rifle with a thermal scope has about as much zoom as the regular sniper scope.
 * Teammates will have a flashing strobe, similar to the ones used in Death From Above to mark teammates.
 * The crosshairs seem to be slightly inaccurate with a sniper rifle, as well as poor recoil representation through the scope, particularly for the Barrett .50cal.
 * When looking at an enemy equipped with a Riot Shield equipped through thermal sights, the riot shield also appears white hot because it is a part of the player model.
 * The ability to steady the sights was obviously intended for sniper rifles, but you can still steady the sights when the Thermal Scope is attached to an Assault Rifle, SMG or LMG. Unfortunately, the effect only applies to the first shot, and the sights will become less accurate after the breath is released, much like a sniper scope. However, this can be useful when using the FAL in Hardcore since you can make accurate, long-distance, one-shot kills without having to use a sniper rifle.
 * When using a scoped weapon upon mounting a minigun you are able to hold breath, although it seems to have no effect on accuracy.
 * When the enemy sets off an EMP and you have a thermal scope on your weapon the red lines will still show but the rest of the scope will be as if looking down a normal sniper scope but slightly blurry.
 * Flags being carried by players appear white hot.
 * Killstreak rewards don't appear to emit heat.
 * Along with standard sniper scopes, thermal scopes remain in ADS even if the user is moving while prone. With all other sights, the weapon is brought down and must be brought back up before use.
 * The thermal scope is useful in dark maps, such as Underpass.

Cameos

 * A PP2000 with a no magnification Thermal Scope can be found in The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday, but this attachment is not usable online.
 * Cpl. Dunn is seen using this attachment extensively on his SCAR-H.

Trivia

 * The thermal scope does not show the heat given off by civilians or animals (such as chickens).


 * The thermal scope's model is base on the AN/PVS-14 monocular. In real life, it is a night vision device, not an infrared scope. Weapon mounting is possible but it is also seen on many helmets throughout the Campaign using a Rhino mount.


 * The thermal sight is not realistically depicted; all it does is put the world in grayscale and light up any part of a player model as white.


 * When looking at snow through a thermal camera, the snow will appear white. This is accurate because of the way thermal optics work. Real thermal optics don't detect all heat but rather specific wave lengths of radiation, like Night Vision Goggles. The reason snow appears "hot" is because it is actually reflecting the sun's light/radiation off the snow causing a false heat signature. With the thermal optics it would be like looking at a reflection of the sun in a mirror, the mirror would appear "hot" even though it's actually not. However, it would not have the white hot appearance that it has in-game.


 * In real life, thermal scopes cannot see through glass. Glass is an insulator and doesn't allow the wavelength of radiation that thermal optics detect to pass through it. One might argue that this would render players using the Riot Shield to not show up on the scope, however riot shields are not made of glass. Strangely, however, non-piloted aircraft in multiplayer (such as Harriers, Attack Helicopters or Pave Lows) cannot target players through glass. This is most noticeable in Terminal.


 * In reality, when looking through a thermal scope, equipment such as ballistic vests and spare mags, and especially riot shields, would not glow white.


 * The thermal scope is unrealistic in one way because if you kill someone, within a couple of seconds his body goes from white to black, whereas in real life the body would slowly lose heat, and still appear "hot" for minutes afterwards. However, this was most likely done for gameplay purposes, as if this feature were included in the game, many players would be shooting dead bodies.


 * The word "MIL" appears to be written at the bottom of the scope while aiming with it. This refers to the "tick-marks" (mil dots) used to determine the range from a target in a telescopic sight.


 * When looking at someone with a Thermal Scope, the weapon they are using is also illuminated. This is impossible unless the gun is overheated (which still wouldn't make the whole weapon white hot). Also, the gun instantly loses the "heat" on it when you kill an enemy.


 * It is also interesting that buildings and terrain surfaces in desert maps do not give off a heat signature. They would be the same temperature as the ambient air, but the game likely does not illuminate them because it would confuse players.


 * In the single-player mission The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday, there is frequent use of thermal optics. The enemies throw Smoke Grenades, then use thermal optics to locate you and your team. Also in this mission, a PP2000 with thermal optics can be found and used. This is not found anywhere else in the campaign, nor in Multiplayer.


 * In multiplayer, any weapon with a thermal scope can be steadied; in single player, the only weapons that can be steadied with thermal scopes are sniper rifles.