Întreprinderea Optică Română ("

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n Optical Enterprise"), often abbreviated by the acronym IOR, is a major

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

company established in 1936 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. IOR produces military and civilian-grade optics and associated equipment for export and domestic production. The company is known in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

particularly for its

riflescope A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical instrument, optical sight (device), sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a frame of reference, referencing pattern – known as ...

s (the LPS 4x6° TIP2),

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

and other sporting optics, which often accompany Romanian military equipment sold on the North American market, such as the PSL rifle.

History

The company was established in 1936 as a joint-venture between the Romanian industrialists

Nicolae Malaxa Nicolae Malaxa ( – 1965) was a Romanian engineer and industrialist. Biography Born in a family of Greeks, Greek origin in Huși, Malaxa studied engineering in Iași (at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, University of Iași) and Karlsruhe ...

and

Max Auschnitt Max Carol Auschnitt,Cerasela Moldoveanu, "În căutarea lui Schwartz... Contribuția evreilor la Războiul de Întregire Națională a României (1916–1919)", in ''Revista de Istorie Militară'', Issues 5–6/2017, p. 90 also known as Ausschnitt ...

, engineer Petre Carp, with participation from the French companies Optique & Précision de Levallois and Bernard-Turnne. In 1941, when Romania entered the war alongside

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, IOR was militarised and was tasked to produce mainly for the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

. The first military scopes were produced at this moment for what was then the standard Romanian sniper rifle, the Vz. 24. After the war, though the production continued under

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

domination, the company maintained links to famous Western European firms such as

Carl Zeiss AG Zeiss ( ; ) is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany, in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe (joined 1866) and Otto Schott (joined 1884) he laid the foundation for today's ...

, Leica,

Pentacon Pentacon is the company name of a camera manufacturer in Dresden, Germany. The name Pentacon is derived from the brand Contax of Zeiss Ikon Kamerawerke in Dresden and Pentagon, as a Pentaprism for Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras was for ...

and

Schneider Kreuznach Joseph Schneider Optische Werke GmbH (commonly referred to as Schneider) is a manufacturer of industrial and photographic optics. The company was founded on 18 January 1913 by Joseph Schneider as Optische Anstalt Jos. Schneider & Co. at Bad Kr ...

, which assisted IOR in its modernization and expansion in the 1970s. As a consequence of Romania's refusal to join the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union ceased sharing technical information and exporting military equipment (including the newly designed

SVD Dragunov The SVD (СВД; ), GRAU index 6V1, is a semi-automatic designated marksman rifle/sniper rifle chambered in the 7.62×54mmR cartridge, developed in the Soviet Union. History The SVD was designed to serve in a squad support role to provide prec ...

). Accordingly, Romania designed the PSL rifle as a substitute for the

, and IOR was tasked with developing a scope for the rifle as a replacement for the Russian

PSO-1 file:Tigr pso 1 med.jpg, Russian PSO-1M2 current military issue 4×24 telescopic sight file:Pso-1onsvd.jpg, View through a PSO-1 telescopic sight mounted on an SVD rifle The PSO-1 (''Прицел снайперский оптический, Pritse ...

. The result was the LPS 4x6° TIP2 telescopic sight, which became the standard Romanian sniper riflescope. The company is traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Products

Since its founding, IOR has produced military (including scopes, binoculars,

range finder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, such as photography, t ...

s) and civilian grade optics (microscopes, medical lenses, glass lenses) and associated equipment (

still camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

s and camera lenses, cinema projectors, dental units). Since the 1980s, the company engaged in optical electronics,

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

metrology Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of Unit of measurement, units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to stan ...

, and thermal vision. The company is SR EN ISO 9001 certified. IOR optics are currently imported into the US by Valdada Optics and are marketed as "IOR-Valdada". IOR's LPS 4x6° TIP2 scopes are commonly found on Eastern Bloc sniper rifles such as the Puşca Semiautomată cu Lunetă, and SVD Dragunov. It is also a very common optic on the US commercial market on rifles that feature a compatible side rail mount. IOR was one of the Cold War era manufacturers that survived the transition to a non communist era rather well. This was due in no small part to their close associations with Western European manufacturers and their 1970s modernization. Other manufacturers like the Russian Novosibirsk Instrument Making Plant and Belarusian Zenit company have not been as successful in entering the Western market.

Rifle Scopes range

IOR is producing the following models of rifle scopes for the commercial market. The scopes are produced in batches and thus not all of them are always available on the market. Since early 2000s I.O.R. has started to produce very extravagant tactical scopes with technical solutions not often found by other brands. Among such innovations were: 35mm and 40mm main tubes to achieve greater elevation range, 6×, 7×, 8× and 10×

magnification Magnification is the process of enlarging the apparent size, not physical size, of something. This enlargement is quantified by a size ratio called optical magnification. When this number is less than one, it refers to a reduction in size, so ...

and parallax adjustment in the form of a ring on a central tube. Glass

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

es used in their products is usually sourced from

Schott AG Schott AG is a German multinational glass company specializing in the manufacture of glass and glass-ceramics. Headquartered in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, it is owned by the Carl Zeiss foundation, Carl Zeiss Foundation. The company's ...

Hunting rifle scopes

* IOR Hunting 1-4x32 IL * IOR Hunting 10x56 IL * IOR Hunting 4-14x56 IL * IOR Hunting 2.5-10x56 IL

Tactical rifle scopes

Usually all IOR Tactical scopes are in Mil/Mil configuration ( adjustment dials and

reticle A reticle or reticule, also known as a graticule or crosshair, is a pattern of fine lines or markings built into the eyepiece of an optical device such as a telescopic sight, spotting scope, theodolite, optical microscope or the electronic v ...

subtension In geometry, an angle subtended (from Latin for "stretched under") by a line segment at an arbitrary vertex (geometry), vertex is formed by the two ray (geometry), rays between the vertex and each endpoint (geometry), endpoint of the segment. ...

s matched in

milliradian A milliradian (International System of Units, SI-symbol mrad, sometimes also abbreviated mil) is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian (0.001 radian). Milliradians are used in adjustment of ...

s) and with first focal plane (FFP) reticle arrangement. Some of the models are however also available with MOA/MOA configuration or second focal plane (SFP) reticles. * IOR Tactical 4x24 IL * IOR Tactical 1/6x30 PitBull IL * IOR 1.5-8x26 Trident IL * IOR Tactical 1/4x32 PitBull IL * IOR Tactical 2.5-10x42 IL * IOR Tactical 2-12x36 SF (.308 BDC reticle) * IOR Tactical 6-24x56 IL * IOR Tactical 6-24X50 IL * IOR Tactical 9-36x44 IL * IOR Tactical 4-16x50 FFP * IOR Tactical 9-36x56 IL * IOR Tactical 3.5-18x50 IL * IOR Tactical 1-10x26 Eliminator IL SFP * IOR Tactical 1-10x26 Eliminator IL Dual Focal Plane * IOR Tactical 3-18x42 IL * IOR Tactical 4-28x50 IL * IOR Tactical 2-16x42 DZD IL * IOR Tactical 12-52x56 Terminator IL * IOR Tactical 5.8-40x56 Crusader IL (Mil/Mil) * IOR 3-25x50 Lutaz IL * IOR Tactical 5-25x56 DZD IL (Mil/Mil)New I.O.R. scopes presentation
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Sport rifle scopes

* IOR 36x42 Competition * IOR 40x45 Competition

References

* ''

Guns A gun is a device that propels a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns or cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). Solid projectiles may be ...

'' magazine, Sept, 2003 by David M. Fortier; "SOF Field Tests Tactical Optics From Romania" By David M. Fortier January and February Soldier of Fortune 2003.

External links

IOR company website

Valdada Optics

IOR and Valdada Enterprises
{{DEFAULTSORT:I.O.R. 1936 establishments in Romania Technology companies of Romania Defence companies of Romania Firearm sights Optics manufacturing companies Greater Romania