FMF Cape Breton completes project for Army

Silvio Barbon, Instrument Technician at FMFCB, works with 84mm Carl Gustaf Recoilless rifle sights for the Canadian Armed Forces. Photo: Ashley Evans, FMFCB.

Ashley Evans, Strategic Communications Officer, FMF CB/CS — You may have wondered why a particular yellow door at the Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton (CB) is always closed.

What exactly goes on behind those large doors right before the Electronics Shop on the left-hand side of the main walkway through the production floor in D250?

Well, the door leads to the Instrument Shop, and behind it – Silvio Barbon, Instrument Technician from Shop 161, recently worked on a project for the Army.

This project saw him convert 84mm Carl Gustaf Recoilless rifle sights from one National Stock Number to another, upgrading their capability. The project requires a dust-free environment to service and repair optical instruments. If dust enters the reticle (the spot where your eye focuses), it obscures the view. The reticle must be clean to allow a clear image and the maximum amount of light through the device. Hence, the big yellow door remained ever-closed.

Barbon used the C1 Open collimator, an optical tool used to set the focus of an optical scope to a specified distance, to set the focus and eliminate parallax (displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object) before repairing, cleaning, and testing the product.

Simon Higgins, Shop 161 Work Center Supervisor, said the most rewarding part of this project was knowing some sights may end up in Ukraine.

“The most challenging part,” Higgins said, “was getting the focus right, with no parallax, and setting center after mounting.”

This project averages approximately 100 hours of work for an outturn of about 30 sights conversion, repair, testing, and packaging. Shop 161 completed this project with the help of FMF Group 7, responsible for material acquisition, procurement, and supply, who brought in the items for repair and then returned them to the national supply system.

The FMF Cape Breton Instruments Shop conducts a wide variety of work, including gauge calibration, engraving, optical instrument repair, radar installs and infrared camera repair.