BARNEVELD, Wis. – American, family-owned Vortex Optics was selected by the U.S. Army to produce and deliver up to 250,000 Next Generation Squad Weapons – Fire Control (NGSW-FC) systems over a 10-year production period, beginning in 2022.
The Vortex Optics NGSW-FC, dubbed the XM157, was designed and built with the needs of the current and future warfighter in mind. The XM157 – invented, designed and engineered entirely in-house at Vortex® Headquarters – is a Low Powered Variable Optic (LPVO) with a display overlay, Laser Rangefinder (LRF), ballistic solver, environmental sensors, aiming lasers, digital compass, and wireless communication to provide for seamless connectivity on the battlefield.
The XM157 is built around a 1-8×30 LPVO featuring a glass-etched reticle on lenses made entirely in the U.S. The XM157 weighs less than many traditional LPVOs with current weapon mounted LRFs and associated mounts and enables America’s servicemen and women to engage threats quickly and effectively.
With an integrated picatinny base that houses the Vortex® Active Reticle® system, the XM157 injects a digitally displayed image into the first focal plane of the optic and allows for intuitive displays to support ballistic drops, reticle shapes and sizes, and additional modes to display way points, identified threats, and fields of fire.
To account for a rapidly evolving battlefield and a broad range of climates and weather conditions, the optic withstood rigorous drop-testing, extreme hot and cold environments, immersion testing, and tens of thousands of rounds of live-fire testing.
SEE ALSO: The Vortex Spitfire HD Gen 2 5X Prism
With a clear focus on ease of use, the combined technology enables the XM157 to range a target, send the information to an on-board ballistic solver, gather atmospheric information, and display an illuminated Active Reticle® corrected aimpoint with wind holds in the user’s sight picture, all in tenths of a second. To provide for flexibility in the field, the XM157 can be controlled via an on-board keypad or a detachable remote.
As the production period begins, Vortex® will leverage a talented collective of American aerospace machine shops and American lens manufacturers to supply components to be assembled entirely at Vortex® Headquarters in Barneveld, Wis.
For a behind-the-scenes look at what it took to bring the Vortex Optics XM157 from concept to reality, check out the latest episode of the Vortex Nation™ Podcast (see below).
To learn more, be sure to follow Vortex Optics on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Effort sponsored by the U.S. Government under Other Transaction number W15QKN-22-9-P001 between Sheltered Wings Inc. d/b/a Vortex Optics and the Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon.
The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.
Let’s go Brandon will be giving these away to our enemies like Halloween candy.
Great. The next time the U.S. military is runoff by a bunch of moutain goat herds they can leave behind these neato optics for them to use. Seeing that the standing orders are transgender/ menstruating pregnant males why bother? Just contract with those neck beards to do our fighting. MY beloved U.S. Army is gone anyway.
Bravo, Vortex! Congratulations on winning the bid! I’m glad the winner is an American company employing and owned by America’s finest.
So the United States Army picks a company that manufactures scopes in China, our worst enemy, to provide us with optics for the next decade? Vortex, a company has a long track record of irrecoverable failures in the field. What could possibly go wrong?
The United States Government is incapable of making a good and proper decision. What a joke.
Did you miss the part where everything, including the lenses, are made in the USA?
Agree with Ned 100%
Until greed takes over. Then Vortex will secretly transfer the specs, prints, etc. to PRC or wherever that is cheapest to maximize their profit. Remember that although most government contracts guarantee a certain percentage of profit; but GREED always creep in.
Then again, there is the geopolitics factor: Who knows whether the China Inc. aka Chinese Communist Party wouldn’t exert pressure, i.e. blackmail, onto Vortex current supply chain arrangements in the form of “…unless you transfer XXX technology in the form of know-how, specs, prints, process / procedures, etc., we would not be able to meet our production agreement and supply XYZ quantity of widgets in time. We all know the smallest detail in engineering can pose insurmountable obstacles. Something that is intuitive to us may be completely foreign to them.
I know from personal experience that these God damn f*&king Kommunists are always after our technologies. So to borrow Master Yoda’s guidance: ” Be afraid, be very afraid of the Dark Side — Money God that is!”
Justin – Ask yourself these questions:
1. Should the U. S. Army trust a company that is “in bed” with the Chi-coms?
2. Should the U.S. Army do business with a company that generates much of its profits & financial health by selling Chi-com made products?
3. Is there any guarantee that Vortex won’t send this new optical and weapons grade technology to the Chi-coms?
there are different levels of Vortex that are made in different countries. Entry level scopes are China. The Viper line is made in the Philippines. Razor/Golden Eagle are crafted in Japan. Vortex Razor HD AMG lenses made in Japan and scopes assembled in the USA.
Not many scopes are still made in the USA but there are a few. Some say made in USA but components come from other countries.
and as already mentioned these military optics are made in USA.