Bill D wrote
What's interesting to me is the comment that the device will work out to the maximum effective range of currently fielded sniper rifles. .50 caliber rifle ER's can exceed 3000 meters. There is also a comment elsewhere indicating the DOD wants to issue this to every soldier so it can't be too expensive.

Bill, please read Liam's comment above (4th message in thread). This
does not work for us. It requires firing a laser against a solid
target.

I have been studying this problem since 1984 and agree with all of
John Cochrane's points above. It will be good for soaring for the
reasons he cites and more. Just like GPS and all the other electronic
aids it will be rapidly accepted.
Technically, some passive or active (LASER or microwave) probing of
the clear atmosphere to detect the relative motion (subtracting your
vario) via backscatter from dust, bugs and pollen, along with image
processing algorithims, will probably be in the final solution.
I have compiled a database of relative papers on the technologies
involved he
http://www.ct-hanggliding.org/thermal.htm but it's getting a little
old now as new things develop.
Looking forward to seeing someone finally make this happen.