TFB Behind the Gun Podcast

Author: The Firearm Blog

The Behind The Gun podcast from The Firearm Blog is a recurring series of conversations with influential individuals within the firearms community. TFB Editor In Chief Pete Interviews industry leaders about their successes, failures and glimpses into the future of firearms and equipment development. The Behind The Gun podcast series is politically non-partisan and is a free-flow of information regarding a wide range of topics including self defense, sport shooting, firearms technology and more. Visit www.TheFirearmBlog.com and www.TFB.TV for additional quality content updated daily.
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Language: en

Genres: Society & Culture, Sports, Wilderness

Contact email: Get it

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TFB Behind the Gun #202: The Vortex "Skunkworks" NPD Division
Thursday, 29 January, 2026

On today's episode of TFB's Behind the Gun Podcast, we get to pick the brains of the guys behind the latest and greatest that comes out of the doors of the Vortex Optics New Product Development group. The literal "Skunkworks" of their company, the New Products Development team gets to imagine, test out, and develop everything from the very affordable budget-oriented red dots and scopes you know and love, to the extremely secretive and currently still classified XM157 Fire Control optic that has been a part of the U.S. Army's NGSW Program. Today, we'll have the opportunity to speak with Ben and Connor, both engineers who work within the NPD division, and they will share with us some of the what and why behind their newest products of 2026 so far. We're of course talking about the brand new Civilian variant of the Vortex AMG 1-10x24 LPVO, the Vortex Triumph 1-10x42 Relay equipped rangefinding binoculars, and the brand new Vortex Ace portable weather station. These new products further flesh out the Vortex Relay system, giving the end user a simple yet extremely capable ranging and weather data suite that allows them to take more informed and accurate shots, regardless of the number of components used.