LAS VEGAS -- Smart rifle-maker TrackingPoint Inc. has teamed with Recon Instruments to sync imagery from its high-tech scope system directly into protective glasses, an official said.
The Austin, Texas-based company showed off the product on Monday at a range north of Las Vegas as part of the opening day of SHOT Show, the biggest small arms show in the world.
"This year, we've partnered with Recon and we're introducing wearable technology," Anson Gordon, marketing lead for TrackingPoint, said during an interview with Military.com. "It actually streams the heads-up display screen from the system into these wearable glasses. It allows the shooter to shoot around a berm without exposing yourself to oncoming fire."
The glasses will retail for $995. The Jet models shown at the range were mock-ups, meaning they weren't functional and only displayed static images. But company officials said the technology will be ready for release this year, possibly in the spring.
Gordon said the glasses won't replace the scope. In fact, they need to be wirelessly connected to the optic in order to receive imagery.
"It has to be powered on, but you don't have to be looking through the optic itself," he said.
The smart-rifle system includes a Linux-powered computer in the scope with sensors that collect imagery and ballistic data such as atmospheric conditions, cant, inclination, even the slight shift of the Earth’s rotation known as the Coriolis effect. Because the computer is wireless-enabled, information can be streamed to a laptop, smart phone or tablet computer for spotting or to share intelligence.
The company also unveiled lower-cost, precision-guided, bolt-action guns, including the 300WM (Winchester Magnum) and 308, which will retail for about $13,000 and ship in April; as well as the 260REM (Remington), which will retail for about $7,500 and ship in April.
For the wealthy big-game hunter, TrackingPoint also introduced 338TP, a new round the company designed to deliver the range of a .50 caliber with the precision of a .338. The gun, billed as the "mile maker" for its one-mile range, retails for almost $50,000.
No word on whether the Army plans to buy more of the weapon systems.
Last year, the ground service's Program Executive Office Soldier, or PEO Soldier, purchased several dozen for testing and evaluation, which is being conducted at Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona.
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