Israeli Firm Delivers Advanced Targeting System

Smart Shooter photo

Smart Shooter, an Israel-based developer of fire control systems, has delivered a new optical targeting scope to the Defense Department for testing.

Last year, the department’s Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate awarded the manufacturer the opportunity to design a system for its Individual Weapon Overmatch Optic, or IWOO, project.

The program’s goal is to provide tactical operators advantages day and night against long-range static and moving targets, according to the company.

Scott Thompson, vice president and general manager of U.S. operations for Smart Shooter, said the variable zoom on its optic technology — derived from its SMASH line of fire control optics — allows users to aim at a target beyond 600 meters and automatically perform ballistics calculations to hit it.

The system “won’t let you fire unless you have a 100 percent solution, which really separates our technology from anyone else out there,” he said.

The system can also assist with hitting moving targets, which is a key capability the Defense Department is looking for due to the growing threat of enemy drones, Thompson said.

Sharone Aloni, Smart Shooter’s vice president of research and development, said the system’s open architecture allows the technology to interface with radar and external sensors in addition to adding other applications if necessary.

“The system itself is very versatile,” he said.

Competency and internal confidence testing is expected in July. The sensor will undergo a technology readiness review in the fall, and Smart Shooter will deliver its first functional system by the end of the year.

While there are other scopes on the market with a similar target range, the IWOO design is more complex, Aloni said.

“It is pretty much the most complicated system that we have ever built,” he said.
Aloni added that the company is confident that the next production milestones will be met on time.

“As in any kind of program, there are certain risks,” he said. “We are managing them and we have a risk reduction plan that we put into place.”

Topics: Security and Counterintelligence