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CNC WEST August/September 2016 127
An Eye For Opportunity ....continued
IR DEFENSE
CORPORATION
2945 Bell Road
Auburn, CA 95603
A few years later Scott left the Bay Area. Feeling the itch
to make his own branded product, he moved near his
shop in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and got to work.
Recalling all the insight gained from testing equipment
with professional hunters, the military, government, & law
enforcement agencies, Scott focused his attention on
making the most innovative gun scopes and monoculars.
At the time, night vision was considered the only option
for military & government agencies. Always looking for
opportunity, Scott discovered that advancements in digital
camera & thermal imaging technologies could be used to
manufacture a thermal scope worthy to stand up against
the well-established night vision options. Thus, IR
Defense was born.
Since the inception of IRD’s first scope many other
companies have entered the thermal optics arena. Inno-
vative features like a joystick toggle dubbed a
thumb-stick, and pure digital displays instead of hard to
see buttons, and analog screens, helped to separate IRD
from the herd. “Utilizing core technologies has enabled us
to focus on manufacturing the final product” Scott said,
“kind of like Dell computers”. IRD is proud that they
design, machine, build, and assemble each thermal
system at their facility in Auburn, CA. The company
mantra is to deliver the highest-level thermal systems at
an affordable price. Keeping the whole process in-house
has allowed them to keep cost down while producing
quality precision devices.
After finishing at the brewery, we headed over to the IRD
facility. The first building holds a clean looking assembly
and QC room. A recently acquired second building now
houses the manufacturing floor, fully stocked with Haas
CNC machines he purchased from Haas Factory Outlet
Sacramento, a Division of Selway Machine Tool. The
American Made machining centers give IRD a little more
clout with it’s clientèle of government, military, & gun
enthusiasts. Scott was excited to show off his UMC-750.
The 5-axis technology insures that they will be pushing
the limits of thermal optics systems even further, even if
Scott still prefers to do his programming at the machine.
IRD produces roughly 100 units a month at the Auburn
facility, with only a handful of product variations, focusing
on making a few products really well. At the end of the
tour, I was finally handed a thermal scope to test. It was
awesome! I felt like the Predator, not the 1987 Arnold
Schwarzenegger version, more like the 2010 Adrien Brody
version. The resolution on the digital view screen was
highly detailed even in the afternoon light.
From his young entrepreneur and swashbuckling weapons
maker days to the president of a well-polished, high tech
thermal weapon sight company, Scott has seen it all.
With an eye for opportunity and the focus to innovate,
Scott has made IRD a household name among the gun
and weapon sights industry. Always ready to support with
manufacturing technology, we will keep our sights on IRD
& Scott Henry.