This week is actually dearth in terms of news about new firearms as well as new airsoft guns as most have been announced last month, especially during the SHOT Show 2017. The next instance that we’ll get a deluge of information from both the real steel and airsoft industries will probably be at the IWA Outdoor Classics 2017 in Nuremberg, Germany next month.

So time to look for other technologies, while not actually applicable for airsoft, are nonetheless technologies that will affect the warfighting capabilities of militaries. In this case, the U.S. Army’s PEO Soldier Weapons is looking to a system that allows a sniper to hit a person-sized target at extreme ranges.

Called the Ballistically Optimized Sniper Scope or BOSS, this is an integrated fire control system for sniper rifles. Realizing that improvements in sniper and ammo will not change substantially over the years, the researchers turn their attention fire control devices that takes into consideration the limitations of such rifles and ammo and be able to improve accuracy as well as reducing time for a shooter to properly aim and make a high probability hit.

The rail-mounted BOSS is an automated, full-solution fire-control system for sniper weapons. It comes with a 6-22x optic with a precision, eye-safe laser range finder. It also has an internal environmental sensor suite, platform orientation inclinometers, and sophisticated ballistic calculator. Overall, this is a sniper scope with a lot of computing power to help the sniper aim accurately and hit a target at greater distances. It has a fail-system that allows the sniper to continue operations even in the event of loss power that the various components of the BOSS fail to function.

Regina Stonitsch, Assistant Product Manager for BOSS at Project Manager Soldier Weapons said in a story at the U.S. Army website, "To improve sniper effectiveness, especially at extended distances, we need to find a way to increase accuracy by reducing aiming errors, and minimize the time for the shooter to figure out where to correctly aim his weapon. We believe the answer could be the BOSS Project."

She further adds that, "Since sniper rifle and ammunition technologies are unlikely to change considerably in the foreseeable future, we're concentrating our efforts on developing a revolutionary fire control system that will provide a leap in shooter performance and likewise a big return on investment."

While, the lightweight BOSS, (weighs 3.5lbs) is made for snipers, it can be readily adapted for other small weapons systems. If the Army decides to adapt the BOSS for use, it could be available for use by soldiers in 2020.