Aimpoint Supplying Army With 30,000 M68CCOs
Aimpoint was very recently awarded a 10 million dollar contract for the delivery of 30,000 M68 Close Combat Optic reflex sights to the U.S. Army. The commercial variant of this sight is the Aimpoint CompM4. These sights have already been in use with the U.S. Army for some time now, seeing much usage in Iraq and Afghanistan. Primarily they are for the M4 carbine, but can also be used for the M16A4, M249, and M240 weapon systems. Although some Army units have purchased Trijocon RCOs and Elcan Spectres with their own budgets, the M68CCO is mounted on a majority of the Army’s individual weapon systems. The price equates to around $360 per sight, but this is also including spare parts and other pieces of equipment that the Army stipulated, so the actual per sight cost might be somewhat lower.
From Aimpoint-
Aimpoint, the worldwide leader in reflex sight technology, has been awarded a contract for supply of 30,000 M68 Close Combat Optics (M68CCO) to the U.S. Army. The Aimpoint CompM4s sight is type-classified as the M68CCO when used by the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. These sights will be supplied with a killFlash® anti-reflection device, rubber lens covers, and adapters which allow the sights to be deployed on all versions of the M16 rifle, M4 Carbine, and light machineguns such as the M240 and M249.
From the original contract announcement on defense.gov–
Aimpoint Inc., Chantilly, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $10,800,000 firm-fixed-price contract for reflex sights. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1). Locations of performance are Virginia and Sweden, with a Feb. 20, 2018, performance completion date. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through fiscal 2018 Army working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Warren, Michigan (SPRDL1-17-C-0127).
It appears with this contract that the Army is either replacing previous M68CCO sights that are nearing the end of their life cycle timeline, or the service is simply getting sights out to units that don’t have them yet in the Reserves for example. Overall the Army hasn’t made the jump to a magnified optic, something that the Marine Corps has done with the Trijicon RCO. One of the driving factors for magnified optics in the Marine Corps was gaining accurate positive identification of targets at longer ranges. In addition, it greatly aids in searching for IED indicators.