SHOT Show Technology Transfer

I spent some time at the SHOT Show last week at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas.  It started off being a "Shooting Hunting Outdoor" show but with 9/11 and all the terrorism concern, a Law Enforcement section has been added.  Besides hundreds of firearms and accessory manufacturers, I visited several thermal imaging vendors and one of them, Torrey Pines Logic, had an interesting product called the Mirage 1200.  Basically it detects optical lens stacks like in a rifle scope or camera.  It's the item at the bottom of this picture.  The operater looks in one end, like a telescope, and besides displaying the general lay of the land, a laser beam is emitted and if it reflects off an optical lens stack, that location blinks on the display.   The R2D2 looking thing is called a Beam 1000 and it's the permanently mounted version of the Mirage 1200.  I wonder if any Hollywood celebrities use these to deal with paparazzi?   The Mirage 1200 has a max range of 1200 meters and the Beam 1000, yep, a max range of 1000 meters.  The Mirage costs around $40,000.

Here's a fun picture of a sniper rig at the show.  They added a cup holder for grins.