Rassa wins NDIA Systems Engineering award.

• Position: NDIA news - National Defense Industrial Association

Bob Rassa, director of systems supportability for Raytheon and chairman of NDIA's Systems Engineering Division, is the first recipient of the association's Systems Engineering Award. The award was established in 2003 to honor the memory of the late Thomas R. Ferguson, Lt. Gen., USAF (ret.), a pioneer in defense systems development and deployment.

The award is given to an individual or group demonstrating outstanding achievement in either process development or practical application of systems engineering principles.

Remembering Glyn Bindon

Glyn Bindon, founder and chairman of the board of Trijicon Inc., died in September, when his small plane crashed near Palmer, Alaska. Bindon, who immigrated to the United States from South Africa, is known for a series of developments:

* A powerful shock absorber for the tail hook of the Navy's F-8U Crusader.

* A valve that helped save astronauts aboard the difficult Apollo 13 mission.

* An iron sight for handguns that is lie by a radioactive isotope of hydrogen called tritium.

* An innovative use of a dual illumination system that permitted the use of both-eyes-open aiming in a series of advanced optics.

During the mid-1990s two of his optics were adopted as part of the U.S. Special Operations Command SOPMOD M4 Carbine Accessory Kit. Several U.S. Army and Marine combat units have procured the dual-illuminated system for use in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bindon is survived by his wife, Carolyn; 9 children and 12 grandchildren.

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