The Corps will shell out $64 million to the Michigan-based Trijicon company to supply Marines with the latest rifle scope.
The new scope, called the squad common optic or SCO, can be used on the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle and the M4, and will replace the Trijicon manufactured rifle combat optic the Corps currently uses.
The new scope weighs 31.5 ounces and is 10.5 inches long ― making it almost twice the size of the nearly 6-inch and 10 ounce RCO.
The scope also comes with a continuously adjustable magnification range moving from one times to eight times magnification, Tom Dever, interim team lead for Combat Optics, at Marine Corps Systems Command told Marine Corps Times.
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Additionally the first focal plane style reticle that changes the size of the reticle depending on the magnification level is projected to improve target acquisition, Denver added.
"The Squad Common Optic provides greater lethality compared to the existing system, the Rifle Combat Optic,” said Lt. Col. Tim Hough, Systems Command’s program manager for infantry weapons, said in a Marine press release.
The contract buys roughly 19,000 squad common optics, along with spare parts, training, interim logistics support and refurbishment of the scopes the Corps already has tested, the press release said.
Units will start to receive the scope in late 2020, with full distribution expected to be completed by fiscal 2023.
