POTD: Ghana Armed Forces Protecting a Ship

@Dope It's not that dated. The first reliable red dot sights appeared roughly 30 years ago, and they only got durable enough for general issue roughly 20 years ago. And yes, even first world militaries issue irons regularly.

@Dope Since this is a naval exercise, the weaknesses of an optic would be more relevant (salt water air is a maintenance nightmare even with mainly plastic and aluminium, water on the glass disrupts sight picture).

@Audie Bakerson The budget of Ghana's military is more relevant and a much less convoluted explanation, you rarely remove your optic just because you're riding an assault boat. You would for a 24/7 stay on a liveaboard.

@IOJ Nobody serious uses irons if they can afford not to

@IOJ Guns issued to marines and other naval forces tend to stay in wet areas, but yes, budget is a big concern.

@iksnilol Not really. Even in small, overfunded (relative to their size) western european militaries, you constantly see soldiers with iron sights only. Optics simply aren't that big of an improvement, most aimed fire in modern combat is minute of BTR. A suppressor is a significantly bigger improvement.

@Audie Bakerson You can find plenty of photos of frogmen running red dots etc, in countries that can afford them.

@IOJ And yet you see soldiers on both sides in Ukraine running red dots purchased with their own money.

Red dots aren't about accuracy anyway. They're about speed.

@IOJ I dunno, at least aimpoints on all guns I've seen in Scandinavian militaries.

Suppressor is a lifesaver. Especially on MGs

@int19h Yes, however I've seen a lot more suppressors than red dots. And both are private purchases. Quite telling in my opinion. And yes, red dots are about speed, however their overall impact is very small, which is what I'm getting at. They are far from the most useful tool a combatant could affix on his weapon.