Lockheed Martin has won a $3.93 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop high-tech rifle-scope attachment. Designed to improve marksmanship over distances of between three and 600 meters, the Dynamic Image Gunsight Optic (DInGO) system combines a low power laser rangefinder, an embedded ballistics computer and onboard sensors that determine wind and other environmental effects.
Based on the One Shot Advanced Sighting System, DInGO calculates the range, digitally zooms in on the target and automatically transmits crosswind information to a long-range sniper’s scope, modifying the crosshairs to display the bullet’s exact point-of-impact.
Lockheed Martin says the goal is to provide soldiers with accurate targeting while maintaining optical resolution and without the need to change scopes.
“Current scopes are optimized for a single target range, impacting soldiers’ effectiveness and survivability when engaging targets at different distances during a single mission,” said Dan Schultz, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Sensors Ship & Aviation Systems business. “DInGO will solve this problem, significantly increasing soldiers’ ability to rapidly reconfigure optics for use from short to long ranges and improving marksmanship capabilities for all soldiers.”
The nine-month Phase 1 contract will see the DInGO system developed for use on M-4 and M-16 automatic rifles.
Recently Lockheed Martin has also applied the One Shot crosswind measurement technology in a prototype spotter scope. The company says tactical field tests in December 2009 showed that snipers were able to engage targets twice as quickly and increase their probability of a first-round hit by a factor of two at distances beyond 1,000 meters.
Via: Lockheed Martin.
