IR grenade suggestion + Thermal scope

Hey everyone, quick intro— my first time posting in this forum. I searched prior point this out, if there are  similar topic, please forgive me; I personally didn't see something like this approach. If you want to know more about me you can look for this username in reddit.

 I’ve been around Battlefield for a while and really enjoy following the balance discussions here. I know in BF2042 regular smoke already blocks thermal scopes from tracking movement, which kind of makes thermals feel pointless to use. Honestly, it’d be interesting to see the data on how many players actually run thermal scopes compared to regular optics, it has to be way less than when thermals could cut through smoke, and I’d bet the numbers would back that up.

That’s why I thought it could be cool to introduce something like an IR grenade (or gadget) as a more specialized counter. Normal smoke would still do its job, but IR smoke could serve as a tactical, shorter-duration hard counter against thermals. That way, thermals would regain value and purpose, while infantry still has a meaningful way to deal with them. To me that feels like a more balanced approach that would add variety without making thermals obsolete.

What do you all think—would bringing thermals back into relevance with an IR counter make the sandbox healthier, or is the current system enough?

Thanks