The US Army has issued a Prototype Project Opportunity Notice (PPON) for a Direct View Optic. This is a Mid-Tier Acquisition effort to quickly identify, test and procure a 1-6x variable power optic for use with the M4A1 Carbine.
The DVO will be capable of variable power magnification with minimum magnification of 1.0x with no rounding and maximum magnification greater than or equal to 6.0 power.
Rationale: Variable power magnification optics combine the capabilities of the non-magnified optic’s ability to engage close quarter targets with a fixed-magnification optic’s ability to detect, recognize, identify, and precisely engage targets at extended ranges. This allows the Soldier to have both critical capabilities without the limitations of either non magnified or fixed magnification optics.
The Government intends to award up to four independent fixed amount Other Transactional Agreements for DVO prototyping, with the goal of delivering 15 Direct View Optic (DVO) Systems with operator manual, MIL-STD-1913 rail compatible mounting hardware, battery, and cleaning items per awardee to be delivered within 30 calendar days after OTA award date. The Government intends to evaluate and award, based on a trade-off process, up to four fixed amount, stand-alone OTAs.
Based on the results of the prototype testing and updated proposals, the Government intends to conduct an evaluation of successfully completed prototype OTAs and, select one prototype OTA awardee for award of a follow-on production Agreement or contract for a known quantity of 50 DVOs. Although, the Army currently has no requirements beyond the known quantity of 50 DVO systems, the maximum quantity of the follow-on Agreement or contact may be up to 120,000 DVO Systems. The follow-on production Agreement or contract will be for five years and will have Line Item Number (LIN) Range Pricing.
Based on source selection, the Army plans to purchase up to 120,000 optics for use by its close combat forces as well as some room in the contract for other agencies interested in purchasing them as well.
Close Combat Forces are those are most likely to conduct direct combat with the enemy and include Infantry, Cavalry Scouts, and Combat Engineers as well as those who provide them embedded support, such as Combat Medics.
Due to the DVO magnification, one potential threat is that an incoming laser could be magnified to essentially make a safe laser unsafe. Every production contract DVO will be equipped with a Laser Filter Unit (LFU) to mitigate this threat. The LFU is an objective lens end mounted filter produced to a Government specification. Other than that, and the mount requirement, the PPON leaves everything pretty open, allowing the Army to evaluate a wide variety of scopes.
Although the Army is focused on procuring a Next Generation Automatic Rifle and Carbine for these Forces, it will take several years to select these weapons and field them. The DVO will be placed quickly into service to enhance the Soldier’s ability to detect, recognize, identify, and accurately engage targets at extended ranges. The want to increase not only lethality but selectivity as well.
This isn’t the first time the Army has procured a 1-6x Optic. Last year, they selected the SIG Optics TANGO6T for use with the Squad Designated Marksman Rifle variant of H&K’s G28 in 7.62mm NATO. However, there are a lot of great optics on the market. With the Army being pretty open to looking at different options, this could very well come down to production capacity.
Closing date for this PPON is Aug 05, 2019 at 5:00 pm Eastern.
For full details, visit www.fbo.gov.
