Eurosatory 12 is over, but I still have a few goodies left over from Paris that might interest you. I know I showed the Israeli's a lot of love last week on this blog, but I just couldn't help it. They kept showing me cool stuff -- like the new Meslas 10x40 Sniper's Fire-Controlled Riflescope.
The Meslas, made by Pulse Inteco Systems Ltd., features a laser rangefinder that's effective out to 2,000 meters and a ballistic computer that provides the sniper with a red dot showing where the bullet will strike the target. The Meslas features a data port so the shooter can upload ballistic tables, wind tables and other sniper tools for the mission, PI Systems officials maintain. In other words, Meslas doesn't do it all; you need sniper skills to make it effective.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have been developing its own smart scopes such as the Dynamic Image Gunsight Optic, which is based on Lockheed Martin's Advanced Sighting System (One-Shot) technology. Designed for snipers, One-Shot relies on sensors that measure environmental conditions at several points along a bullet's path to the target.
Members of the sniper community, however, have pointed that attempts to develop a sniper scope that calculates atmospherical conditions in addition to providing range and adjusted aimpoint may be a bridge too far. A good spotter can be just as effective or better at reading wind than One-Shot, some snipers say.
The Meslas weighs a little over four pounds and runs on four CR-123 batteries. This is the second version of the Meslas system, which has been in development for roughly four years.
Here is a video of a PI Systems official explaining the Meslas. Hope it's helpful.
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