Wilcox VIPR Optic: Digital Reticle Sight With Counter-Drone Mode

The Wilcox VIPR (Visually Integrated Precision Reticle) is a 1x direct-view sight that swaps a fixed aiming mark for a digital one. Wilcox Industries introduced it on September 22, 2026. It has the boxy, hooded shape of a holographic sight, but the reticle is digitally generated and projected onto a transparent optical window, which means the shooter can change what the reticle is, not just how bright it is.

That one change carries the whole product. A single VIPR stores multiple reticles and ballistic profiles, so it can run a plain CQB dot on one profile, a drop-compensated holdover reticle built from Applied Ballistics data on another, and a counter-drone reticle from Dragonslayer Systems on a third. Wilcox calls the design weapon- and ammunition-agnostic; in its launch video the sight rides a 5.56 rifle, and the presenter names pistol-caliber carbines, 300 Blackout, and a shotgun as other hosts.

The VIPR runs three kinds of reticle, and the operator switches between them with the control wheel instead of a mechanical adjustment. Wilcox groups them by engagement: CQB, mid-range, and counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS).

• CQB: a dot or a dot in a circle for fast pickup at close range, the same job a holographic sight or red dot does on a carbine.
• Mid-range: a bullet drop compensator whose holds come from the ballistic profile loaded in the app, so the marks sit where the selected load actually lands rather than where a generic 5.56 BDC assumes it will.
• C-UAS: Dragonslayer Systems' Rapid Integrated Precision (RIP) reticle, preloaded on part number 71100G02, which gives the shooter lead references for tracking and hitting a moving drone.

Around the reticle, the window can show the profile name, battery status, and range from a paired rangefinder. Wilcox lists rangefinder connectivity as optional and has not named which rangefinders pair with it.

The counter-drone reticle exists because leading a small aircraft with a plain red dot does not work. “If you've ever tried to draw a line in the sky with a red dot, you might think you're doing well, but it's actually very close to impossible,” Wilcox's presenter says in the launch video. The Dragonslayer reticle adds lead lines that let the shooter place a drone on its path of travel and hold the correct lead.

Dragonslayer Systems, a veteran-founded defense company, built the reticle as part of what it calls the Multi-Domain Reticle System, and it says the core function lives in the sight picture with no external sensor data, network connection, or onboard computation required. Wilcox leans on that in its anti-drone demonstration, where shooters engage orange clay targets launched toward the line: “Unlike computer-assisted fire controls that require time-costly RF, GPS links, sensors, and detection tracking, the VIPR allows immediate fire.”

That puts the VIPR between two existing approaches. The EOTech HWS CUAS builds its drone leads into a fixed holographic reticle calibrated to a 30 mph crossing target at 50 and 90 meters, so it is always a drone reticle. The Vortex XM157 and SIG's XRAY9-CUAS lean on laser rangefinders: the XM157 pairs one with a ballistic solver, and SIG says the XRAY9-CUAS uses its rangefinder to target drones quickly. The VIPR keeps the drone reticle as one selectable profile among several, and switches back to a ground reticle when the target is on the ground.

The VIPR has no windage or elevation turrets; zero is a software setting. Wilcox's demonstration walks through it: double-click the control to open the menu, scroll to zeroing, move the crosshair up, down, left, or right to match point of impact, and double-click out to save the reticle.

The control itself is a single button nested inside a scroll wheel, sized for a gloved hand. The presenter describes it as a magnetic housing button, and says skipping conventional housing buttons leaves fewer entry points for water, which is how the sight earns its rating of 20 meters of immersion for up to 2 hours. Mounting hardware takes a T25 Torx bit and a flathead screwdriver.

Dropping mechanical adjusters is also Wilcox's durability argument. The company rates boresight retention at under 0.5 mrad, about 1.8 inches at 100 yards, across a -4°F to 140°F operating range, tested in 1,000-round increments of FN MK 17 (SCAR) weapon shock out to 11,000 rounds.

Reticle design and ballistics live in the VIPR mobile app, not on the optic. The app handles mission setup, reticle selection, ballistic profile management, and symbology. Its template editor exposes HUD elements, the aimpoint, arcs and circles, graduations, and bullet drop compensation, so the CQB reticle and the BDC look however the shooter builds them.

Drop data comes from Applied Ballistics. The app imports an Applied Ballistics gun profile by scanning a QR code or loading an image, and the holds then sit at distances set by that load. Because every profile carries its own zero and reticle, the presenter's 300 Blackout example is the practical one: supersonic and subsonic loads on the same rifle, each with a correct reticle, one scroll apart.

Wilcox has not published a price for the VIPR. It sells part number 71100G02, the VIPR with the Dragonslayer reticle, in black, by quote request through its distributors, and offers hands-on demonstrations on request. The launch materials address operators and fleet readiness rather than retail buyers, and the datasheet marks the design as patent pending.

Owning a counter-drone reticle is not the same as being allowed to use it. Shooting at any aircraft, drones included, is illegal under FAA guidance, and destroying a drone can be charged as a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. 32, up to 20 years. Our explainer on whether you can shoot down a drone over your property covers the statutes, and our drone warfare overview explains why rifles keep returning to the counter-drone fight.