Tuesday, November 5, 2024

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Trijicon: Four decades of excellence

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In the global defence technology industry, Trijicon is a leading innovator, known for producing highly accurate and robust rifle optics. Since being adopted by the United States Marine Corps in 2004, Trijicon’s Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) has even been featured in over 50 videogames, generating worldwide recognition.

Trijicon’s history goes back to 1981 and starts with company founder Glyn Bindon. Glyn A. J. Bindon was born in 1937 in Pretoria, South Africa and matriculated at Pretoria boys High before emigrating to the United States in the mid-1950s where he received a degree in aeronautical engineering from Parks College in 1958.

Following his graduation, Glyn worked with a small engineering company in New York state where he developed a powerful shock absorber for the tail hook of the Navy’s F-8U Crusader which allowed that aircraft to be used in aircraft carrier operations for the first time. During the 1970s, Glyn moved to Grumman Aerospace as a Cognizant Engineer. In that capacity, he interfaced with NASA during one of the most intense periods of space exploration. He was extremely proud of a valve he designed that was used aboard the lunar module. The valve was called upon to perform far beyond the original design standards during the difficult Apollo13 mission.

In the 1970s, Glyn relocated to Michigan and joined the Ford Motor Company as a product design engineer where his knowledge of fluid dynamics positioned him as a key problem solver in Navistar’s struggle with the unit injectors in its (then) new diesel engine series.

In 1980, Glyn was visiting his family in South Africa and met the developer of the Armson OEG gunsight. The designer was attempting to introduce the OEG sight to the American market. The concept whetted his interest, and upon his return home, Glyn began importing those sights as a sideline business.  He named his company Armson, Inc., and the Armson sights were his only product from 1981 until 1985.

The Armson OEG had a similar design to the original Singlepoint red dot, which was first used by American forces in the nighttime 1970 Son Tay raid in Vietnam. The Armson OEG, however, had more robust features and a variety of mounting systems for popular rifles and shotguns.

Glyn made the company’s first US sale with an order for six pieces. Shortly after, came an order for 12 pieces, and the orders kept coming with the Armson OEG becoming available for sale in stores in 1983. At the time, the company was still run out of Glyn’s family home, with assistance from his children.

In 1985, Trijicon introduced the world’s first tritium-reticule riflescope, the Spectrum Riflescope. This was followed with the launch of the world’s first commercially available tritium-illuminated iron sights for handguns, the Bright & Tough Night Sights.

It was at this time that the company considered a name change, and Glyn created the name Trijicon, by combining two words: “Tritium” the key element in the company’s innovative illumination technology, and “icon” meaning a picture or image. The “j” was added to combine both words to form Trijicon, resulting in the “iji” in Trijicon mimicking the “three-dot” design of the Bright & Tough Night Sights.

Glyn would often take apart optical technologies, dissecting and exploring them. A particular pair of binoculars sat disassembled on his work bench for several weeks. Glyn was curious if moving a riflescope’s prism (much like in a pair of binoculars) could make the riflescope more compact. At the time, many scopes on the market were large and bulky. After some experimenting, Glyn found an answer, and revolutionised riflescope technology.

In 1987, Trijicon first introduced their TA01 4×32 ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight), which, using prism sight technology, would go on to be their flagship product. Almost immediately the ACOG was included in the U.S. Army Advanced Combat Rifle programme, the beginning of what would become a life-changing partnership.

Trijicon products saw their first combat use in Operation “Just Cause” in Panama. Users were impressed, and by 1991 Trijicon sights saw extensive use in Operation “Desert Storm”.

Trijicon’s innovation continued with the launch of the ACOG 3.5×35 in 1992, which introduced the Bindon Aiming Concept (BAC). This allows the shooter to track and engage targets faster by utilising an illuminated aiming point, instead of traditional black crosshairs – the BAC is a simple way to shoot illuminated optics with both eyes open. U.S. Navy SEALs began testing the new ACOG 3.5×35 with great fanfare, and the optic was officially adopted by German GSG9 SWAT on SIG 550 rifles.

The ACOG 4×32 riflescope saw massive success in both tests and in combat use, which subsequently lead to the U.S. Special Operations Command purchasing 12,000, choosing the TA01 as their official scope for M4 carbines. This was the first official optic enhancement of the M16 family by the U.S. Military.

As Glyn Bindon and his family grew up hunting, they understood there was a need for accurate riflescopes that could take a beating. In 1998, Trijicon introduced the AccuPoint 3-9×40 dual-illuminated riflescope, specifically with hunters in mind. In 2000, the AccuPoint line expanded with the 1.25-4×24 model riflescope, designed to help safari hunters.

In September 2003, Glyn Bindon, founder of Trijicon, died in a plane crash in Alaska. Glyn would not see his invention grow to be the success it is today, under Stephen Bindon, who continued building his father’s vision.

While it took Trijicon 18 years to produce the first 100,000 ACOG 4×32 riflescopes, it took only 18 months to manufacture the next 100,000. This became possible with the ACOG TA31 RCO, becoming the first-ever official Rifle Combat Optic (RCO) of the US Marine Corps.

The following year, in 2006, the order for 100,000th 4×32 ACOG riflescope was completed, and occurred alongside the release of Trijicon’s new 2.5-10×56 30mm tube AccuPoint variable powered riflescope.

In 2007, Trijicon engineers received feedback from U.S. Special Forces soldiers, who had been modifying their ACOGs by mounting a small red dot sight on the top. This modification allowed for the optic to be used in close quarters and at long range.

Trijicon took note, and later that year launched the Trijicon Red Dot™ Sight, its first-ever miniature reflex-style red dot sight. This was followed by a new ACOG 4×32 which came standard with a doctored red dot sight mounted on top. Trijicon then launched a similar product to the public, the ACOG Enhanced Combat Optical Sight (ECOS).

2007 continued to be a good year, with the U.S. army choosing the Trijicon ACOG 4×32 RCO as its standard field carry optic.

By 2009, Trijicon had produced their 500,000th 4×32 ACOG scope, and the Trijicon RMR was named “Optic of the Year” by Firearms Marketing Group.

In 2015, Trijicon launched the Miniature Rifle Optic (MRO), a red dot sight intended for broad use by military, law enforcement, competition shooters and hunters; built to be used in the harshest of environments. Guns & Ammo awarded the MRO “Optic of the Year.”

Trijicon produced their 1,000,000th ACOG 4×32 riflescope in 2017, and the following year were awarded a contract for the Trijicon VCOG (Variable Combat Optical Gunsight) 1-8×28 riflescope, which became the U.S. Marine Corps’ Squad Common Optic (SCO).

“Our war fighters deserve the very best equipment in defence of our nation. The Marine Corps’ SCO evaluation process was extremely rigorous, and we are honoured that the VCOG was selected to continue the tradition of battle-proven riflescopes that the Trijicon ACOG began in 2004 as the Marine Corps’ first Rifle Combat Optic,” said Stephen Bindon, Trijicon President & CEO.

Trjjicon are represented in South Africa by ECM Technologies, who have been the exclusive importer and distributor of Trijicon products since 1989.  This makes ECM Technologies the longest serving international distributor of Trijicon products in the world.

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