Combat lighting for Navy special forces .50 caliber machine guns to be provided by Sure Fire
CRANE, Ind., 5 Sept. 2010. U.S. Navy special forces weapons experts needed combat lighting and target-designation capability to help .50 caliber machine gun crews with target detection, recognition, and identification in low-light and low-observation conditions. They found their solution from laser and illumination specialist Sure Fire LLC in Fountain Valley, Calif.
Sure Fire won a $16.6 million contract Friday for the visible bright light heavy (VBL-H) fire control device for the M2HB .50 caliber machine gun. The VBL-H provides increased optical augmentation providing increased capability to engage hostile targets with crew-served weapons systems. Awarding the contract were officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division in Crane, Ind.
Sure Fire manufactures the HellFighter heavy gun weapon light for medium to heavy machine guns, vehicles, and boats for low-light and low observation situations.
The VBL-H is a subsystem of the Miniature Day/Night Sight - Crew Served Weapons (MDNS-CSW) project of the U.S. Special Operations Command Weapon Accessories program, which is an enhancement to current optical augmentation systems and is designed to help engage hostile targets with crew-served weapons by improving target recognition, acquisition, and hit probability during day and night operations to the maximum range of .50 caliber machine guns in all environmental conditions.
For more information contact Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane at www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/crane, or Sure Fire LLC at www.surefire.com.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
