Aimpoint AB

Aimpoint AB

Type	Private
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	1974
Headquarters	Malmö, Sweden
Products	Electro-optical sights and accessories
Website	http://www.aimpoint.com

Aimpoint AB is a Swedish optics company manufacturing red dot sights for civilian, police and military use. The most popular model is the CompM2, currently used by numerous armed forces around the world.

Company

The Aimpoint AB^[1] is a manufacturing company founded in 1974 and is based in Malmö, Sweden.^[2] Their primary products are reflector (or reflex) sights, specifically the red dot sight sub-type. In 1975 they introduced their first commercial product,^[3] the "Aimpoint Electronic" red dot sight, based on a design by Helsingborg engineer John Arne Ingemund Ekstrand.^[4] This is claimed to be the first light-emitting diode "red dot" reflector sight ever manufactured. They currently offer many product lines based on this technology as well as accessories. In 1997 Aimpoint was awarded the first multi-year military contract ever for a red dot sighting system when the US Army purchased their Aimpoint CompM2, designated the “M68 Close Combat Optic”.^[5]

Products

Aimpoint on a AK4

Ak 5D seen here with an Aimpoint red dot sight.

Aimpoint currently sells a large line of red dot sights marketed to hunters, marksmen, law-enforcement agencies, and military organizations all over the world.^[6] More than 500,000 Aimpoint sights are in military service today.

All of their products use non-magnifying optical collimators (reflector or "reflex" sights) along with battery powered light-emitting diodes to produce a red aiming point. Some models come in sub-types with lenses added to give them a low magnification. Many sights utilize a type of mangin mirror system, consisting of a meniscus lens corrector element combined with the semi-reflective mirror (what Aimpoint's advertising calls a "two lens" or "double lens" system^[7]), that compensates for off axis spherical aberration, an error that can cause the dot position to diverge off the sight's optical axis with change in eye position.^[8][9][10] Some sights also offer some correction for parallax via having the aiming dot focused at a distance of 50 yards. Aimpoint markets their sights as "parallax free",^[11] but this seems to refer to their off-axis spherical aberration correction system. Aimpoints, like all other collimated sight systems, induce some parallax at different ranges due to the nature of the collimator.^[12][13]

Current Aimpoint models

CET models

These models use Aimpoints "Circuit Efficiency Technology" (CET) diode circuitry, a low power consumption system:

• Aimpoint CompM2: The standard military red dot sight, designated M68 CCO (Close Combat Optic) by the US Army. Four MOA and night vision compatible.
• Aimpoint CompML2: Same as CompM2, but lacks night vision compatibility.
• Aimpoint LPI
• Aimpoint CS Model issued to the Swedish Armed Forces.

ACET models

These models use Aimpoints "Advanced Circuit Efficiency Technology" (ACET) diode circuitry, a newer low power consumption system introduced in 2005:

• Aimpoint® Carbine Optic (ACO) (Launched 2014): designed specifically for modern sporting rifles and priced to sell at an entry level price point.
• Aimpoint PRO: a.k.a. Patrol Rifle Optic. Launched in January 2011, marketed to law enforcement for usage on patrol rifles, shotguns, and sub-machine guns. Available in 2 MOA model with a battery life of 30,000 hours. Uses 2L76 or DL1/3N battery Also Night Vision Compatible.
• Aimpoint CompM4: The latest version of the military M68 Close Combat Optic. Two MOA dot and uses standard AA battery. Night Vision Compatible.
• Aimpoint CompM4s: Same specifications as the Aimpoint CompM4, but it comes with a low battery compartment.
• Aimpoint CompM3: Available in 2 and 4 MOA models. Night vision compatible.
• Aimpoint CompML3: Same as CompM3, but lacks night vision compatibility.
• Aimpoint Micro H-1: The smallest sight in the Aimpoint family, only 105 grams (3.7 oz) including the mount. Comes in 4 MOA dot.
• Aimpoint Micro H-2
• Aimpoint Micro T-1: The police and military version in the Micro series, comes in a matte black finish with NVD capabilities.
• Aimpoint Micro T-2
• Aimpoint MPS3: A machine gun sight which uses the same type electronics as the Aimpoint CompM4.

Accessories

A U.S. Army soldier with an M4 carbine equipped with an Aimpoint CompM2

• Aimpoint 3XMag: 3× magnification module for Aimpoint sights.

Featured behind an eotech.^[14]

• Aimpoint LPI: Infrared laser sight to be mounted on either a Picatinny rail or directly on some of the CompML or CompM sights.
• Aimpoint CEU (Concealed Engagement Unit): Mounted on the Aimpoint TM (TwistMount) behind the Aimpoint sight. Allows the user to engage the target from a protected position.

Discontinued Aimpoint models

• Aimpoint Electronic (1975) - Aimpoint's first product and the first mass-produced "red dot sight".
• Aimpoint Electronic G2 (1978)
• Aimpoint Mark III (1983) - first model to have internal adjustments.
• Aimpoint 2000 (1985) - ring mounted, auto light adjust.
• Aimpoint 1000 (1987)
• Aimpoint Bow (1987)
• Aimpoint 3000 (1989) - a sight with 1" (25.4 mm) tube. It is used by the French GIGN on G-3 TGS and sometimes on Remington 870; it is thought to have been used, or to be in use still, by Navy SEALs on the M4A1^[15]
• Aimpoint 5000 (1991)
• Aimpoint Comp (1991) - pistol sight
• Aimpoint CompM/ML (1997)
• Aimpoint 5000 XD (1999) - improved "XD" diode for brightness/battery life.
• Aimpoint 5000 XD 2x (1999) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint CompM/ML XD (1999)
• Aimpoint CompML 2X (1999) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint Comp XD (1999)
• Aimpoint CompC (2001)
• Aimpoint CompC 2X (2001) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint CompC SM (2001)
• Aimpoint 7000S (2001) - full-length sight for hunting and sport-shooting rifles.
• Aimpoint 7000S 2X (2001) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint 7000SC (2001)
• Aimpoint 7000SC 2X (2001) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint 7000SC SM (2001)
• Aimpoint 7000L (2001)
• Aimpoint 7000L 2X (2001) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint MPSII (2002) - designed for military use, medium or heavy support weapons.
• Aimpoint CompC3 (2005)
• Aimpoint CompC3 2X (2005) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint CompC3 (4MOA) (2005)
• Aimpoint 9000L (2005) - full-length sight for hunting and sport-shooting rifles.
• Aimpoint 9000L 2X (2005) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint 9000SC 2X (2005) - 2× magnification
• Aimpoint 9000 SC Camo (2005)
• Aimpoint Micro R-1 (2007) - handgun/hunter model, same as the H-1 but instead of the black finish the R-1 came in a Silver finish.

See also

• EOTech
• Trijicon
• Elcan
• ITL MARS

References

1. "AB" is a standard Swedish abbreviation for "Aktiebolag", meaning "joint-stock company"
2. businessweek.com, Bloomberg Business Exchange, Electronic Equipment, Instruments and Components, Aimpoint AB
3. Aimpoint, History
4. Invention intelligence: Volume 11, Inventions Promotion Board, National Research Development Corporation of India - 1976, page 12
5. Paul Milenkowic, Stan S. Sudol, USE OF MULTIYEAR CONTRACT SAVES $1.36M
6. List includes: US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, USSOCOM units, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, French Army, Swedish Army, Danish Army, Finnish Army, Norwegian Army, Latvian Army, Slovenian Army, and Italian Army
7. BATTLESPACE Exhibition News, SHOT SHOW OPENS WITH A BANG! by Julian Nettlefold
8. Note: a setup Aimpoint calls "parallax free"
9. ar15.com, How Aimpoints, EOTechs, And Other Parallax-Free Optics Work
10. Gunsight - Patent 5901452 - general description of a mangin mirror system
11. Aimpoint's parallax-free, double lens system... AFMO.com
12. John Dreyer, Facts and Figures About Dot Sights, Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol
13. American rifleman: Volume 93, National Rifle Association of America - THE REFLECTOR SIGHT By JOHN B. BUTLER, page 31
14. Systema M4A1 PTW
15. Equipment | NavySEALs.com - Experience the SEAL Edge

External links

• [http://www.aimpoint.com/ Aimpoint A