AUSTIN -- An Austin firm says it has come up with a better way to test the scopes and sights on the weapons used by soldiers. The creators believe this new testing device will save the military millions of dollars and get the latest technology into the field faster.
For U.S. soldiers overseas, the night vision scopes and thermal sights on their guns are vital tools, and knowing their gear will work the way it's supposed to brings peace of mind.
These days, Ascendant Engineering Solutions in Northwest Austin has its sights set on a new way to test that specialized equipment.
“They give the soldier a tremendous advantage, but they need to work,” said John Noeth, president of AES. He and his team of engineers spent more than two years developing a weapon shock simulator.
“This emulates a gun going off, specifically an M-4 in this case,” Noeth said. “By applying a force to the end of the barrel, that's one of the main shocks when firing a weapon. The other main shock is the bolt retraction.”
Those shocks are measured by a computer and show how the scopes and sights being tested react to the recoil of the weapon.
“This will move about the same distance as a soldier's shoulder will, and so we're trying to recreate all those physics that happen when you fire a weapon," Noeth said.
The simulator is designed to replace costly live fire testing at a gun range.
In the past, testing sights and scopes could take weeks and cost between $300,000 and $500,000.
“With this we can test hundreds of thousands of rounds in a few days,” Noeth said. “So it's improving quality. It's reducing cost. It's a win-win for everybody involved.”
The weapon's shock simulator costs $250,000.
There are other weapon shock simulators out there, but this is the first one to be certified and purchased by the U.S. government. Ascendant plans to market the device to private corporations in the near future.
