Marine Snipers Test American Rheinmetall Systems Laser Rangefinder

The German subsidiary, American Rheinmetall Systems, LLC makes a lightweight laser rangefinder that could one day be in use by Marine Corps snipers.

The TAC-RAY 1500, which also features an infrared aiming light and IR pointer, is competing in the Marine Corps Sniper Laser Range Finder competition, which began earlier this year, Sam Horstman, business development manager at American Rheinmetall told Military.com at the National Defense Industrial Association’s 2017 Armaments Systems Forum.

The TAC-RAY’s rangefinder has a range of 1,500 meters on a man-sized target, Horston said. It also has a low-power setting for training that goes out to 600 meters on the IR illuminator and pointer, he said. The high-power setting can reach out to 2,000 meters.

Weighing just 10 ounces, it is considerably smaller and lighter than Army’s Small Tactical Optical Rifle Mounted, or STORM, system which weighs in at 1.2 pounds.

The Army’s new STORM SLX, scheduled to be fielded this fiscal year, weighs 14 ounces.

The TAC-RAY 1500 runs on one CR123 battery and has an average runtime of eight hours, Horston said.