Great Britain Orders Rheinmetall Vario-Ray Laser Light Modules

Posted on Jan 29 2014 - 10:36am by Editor2

During the next few years the British Ministry of Defence will continue procuring Rheinmetall’s state-of-the-art Vario-Ray laser light module for its infantry forces. Mounted on soldiers’ small arms, these devices enable them to detect, identify and mark targets.

LLM Vario-Ray

The framework contract, with a total value of €33 million (approximately £28 million), encompasses the supply of tens of thousands of these innovative devices. In the near term more than 7,000 units are to be delivered in a first lot.

Vario-Ray, officially dubbed the “Laser-Light Module Mark 3” by Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, forms part of a comprehensive programme to modernize the British infantry. In the competition to secure the order, it had to overcome a number of well-known rivals.

Weighing less than 244 grams, the device can be attached to small arms of all types by means of a Mil-Std 1913 rail, and remotely operated using a trigger cable. It features a powerful white light lamp, a red light laser marker, an infrared laser marker and an electrically focusable infrared illuminator. The light source is selected via a rotary switch. All of the light sources are infinitely variable, while the lasers can all be adjusted via block calibration.

The LLM Vario-Ray complements the tried-and-tested LLM-01, already widely used by the British military and likewise made by Rheinmetall. Vario-Ray also forms part of Germany’s new “Gladius” expanded future soldier system.