Adaptive-Zoom Weapon Scope with Integral Ranging, Tracking and Fire Control

A compact, lightweight, direct-view variable-magnification fire-control riflescope with integral programmable aiming system will be developed, which includes: a 1550-nm eyesafe laser rangefinder (LRF), 9-axis inertial measurement unit with integrated environmental sensors and ballistic computer, and a real-time direct-view heads-up display (HUD) disturbed reticle. The proposed system will be demonstrated to achieve 3-km ranging, with better than 0.1-meter range resolution, and to offer tens of thousands of ranging events on a single battery recharge. First, an ultra-compact single-pulse eyesafe LRF will be optimized, integrated with a clip-on eyepiece HUD with disturbed-reticle sight, and demonstrated on a riflescope. The riflescope optics will then be compared to a similar design optimized with 3D freeform GRIN optics. It will be shown that, using freeform GRIN lenses, significant size and weight can be removed from the scope optics. To achieve a common direct-view optic that may be used for sighting and SWIR ranging and precision targeting, wide-spectral-band scope optics will be fabricated, and their performance and cost will be compared to those of conventional tactical scopes. Select scope designs will be environmentally and reliability tested.