Unity Tactical – AXON Switches
I like writing about gear. And my experiences as a special operator, industry professional and instructor give me a unique perspective on products for our community. As such, the editors of UN12 offer me a lot of latitude in topics I wish to cover. I’ve often found that meaningful innovation comes in small packages. Often the things that have the most impact on warrior capability or comfort come from the smaller companies in the LE/Mil section of SHOT Show. I work for Unity Tactical, and as a general rule I do not write about our products. But I’m going to break this rule one time to talk about a small but game-changing product: AXON.
AXON is a family of dual-button/dual-lead and single-button switches that hit the market in January. It’s designed to offer remote activation of lights and lasers on small arms. And I will be so bold as to say it is the most advanced switch on the market. I could say that it’s the result of years of development, but in reality it can trace its roots decades back to when soldiers were first issued remote pressure switches for their SureFire lights and Insight lasers.
Remote switches came into existence as a way for soldiers to activate weapon-mounted lights and lasers that were not positioned at a physically accessible location on the rifle. When these mission-critical devices first started seeing action in the ’90s, most soldiers and cops were issued basic M4/M16 platforms with polymer handguards. Crude workaround mounts were developed with the goal of simply attaching these electronics to the weapon. Little attention was paid to how the user was actually supposed to activate them (thanks, nerds).
Rudimentary electronic remote switches were developed as an afterthought. These switches looked like thin, 3-4” pads attached to the end of a length of coated electronic cable plugged into a port on the light or laser. Users would affix the pad in a convenient place where they could press it while firing the weapon. This was usually accomplished with copious amounts of velcro, zip-ties, rubber bands and 100-mph tape. And you had about a 50% chance of the switch actually working when you pressed it. Even then, you only had a momentary option for device activation (as soon as you let up on the pad, the device would shut off).
The hassle of trying to keep a remote switch on the weapon and the craps-shoot of whether or not it would function caused many professional end users to simply forgo their use altogether. With the introduction of modular attachment handguards, accessories could be placed in positions that were a little more accommodating to direct, on-board activation. But it was still limiting and not ideal.
Lights and lasers are mission-critical devices on the modern battlefield. White light allows us to see in the dark, while lasers are used for targeting with the naked eye and while using night vision goggles. The ability to completely control these devices is absolutely necessary. But if we are assigning a hierarchy of importance, the ability to operate the fire controls of the weapon is certainly at the top.
The decades-old challenge is finding an efficiency balance in mastering all controls of the weapon instantly: safety, trigger, bolt catch, mag release, weaponlight, laser. A lot of this comes down to proper and efficient weapon setup. M4/M16/AR-15 platforms (and similar) can be broken down into two main areas of control: fire control and accessory control. And the geographical placement of these controls can be looked at as forward/rear.
Rear controls are the weapon operation and fire control groups. They can mostly be actuated by the firing hand without it having to come off the pistol grip. The action of reloading and releasing the bolt requires the support hand but places it in an optimal position to operate these controls. There are some good accessories that help make rear controls ambidextrous and some newer rifles are manufactured with ambi controls from the factory.
Forward controls are the accessories such as lights, lasers and rangefinders. These are mounted to the handguard and usually activated by the support hand. With the bad name for remote switches earned by their poor quality and performance early in the GWOT, many professionals opt not to use them. And while the surest method of device activation is the onboard fire button, reaching for multiple buttons for multiple accessories can be a pain. A no-remote switch setup will usually require the user to change his support grip on the weapon to reach the controls, compromising stability and accuracy. This is compounded under stress and when shooting with the non-dominant hand.
An ideal weapon setup allows the user to have 100% control over weapon and accessory operation while not compromising stance or grip regardless of shooting dominant or non-dominant side. Activating weapon and accessory controls should require a deliberate action, but not so much as to require a change in grip or posture.
Remote pressure switches have come a long way over the past 30 years, and Unity Tactical has been at the forefront of development with products like the Hot Button, TAPS (partnered with TNVC), and Mod Button/Lite family for Modlite Systems. As an integration solutions company, our mission is to make products that integrate other products with the host weapon or PPE while optimizing their use. AXON is exactly that. It’s aptly named; an axon is a nerve fiber that conducts electrical impulses. It transmits information to different neurons, muscles and glands. AXON has taken 30+ years of remote switch evolution into account to give users complete command and control over their devices.
Complete Control
AXON has two different button types. The first is a mechanical switch button that supports both momentary and constant activation for lights. This is incredibly important because most remote switches do not offer constant activation for lights. Lights require a mechanical switch for constant-on output. The AXON light button acts and feels like a traditional “clicky” tail cap on a tactical light. The ability to activate weaponlights in constant mode is crucial. It helps when the user’s support hand needs to be taken off the weapon for one reason or another while still requiring the activation of the light. Maybe they need to interact with their environment (open a door, hold a railing, push something or someone out of the way). Maybe they need to help a buddy or control a K9’s leash.
The laser button uses an electronic switch that supports the integral momentary and double-tap for constant-on feature found in mil-spec/NATO lasers. This is not a new feature, but what is revolutionary is the combination of the two different types of buttons for two different devices in a single unit.
Tactile Differentiation
Listening to operator feedback, we designed AXON to position the two different buttons on different planes. The light button is at a 45-degree upright angle while the laser button is flat and positioned directly behind it. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Battlefield conditions and the stresses of combat can make performing even the simplest of tasks difficult. Simply putting two like buttons next to each other can be confusing in the dark, cold, wet environments professionals often find themselves in. This is compounded when wearing PPE such as winter gloves. It is imperative that the user not mistake the light and laser buttons, since one output is clearly overt while the other is covert. The major angle changes found in the AXON controls practically ensures that these controls cannot be mistaken.
Little Guy
Anyone who has ever set up a rifle with a light and laser knows that real estate is at a premium. This is especially true as rails get shorter on SBRs and PDWs. And legacy dual switches often run out of room. AXON is the shortest dual switch on the market but doesn’t sacrifice button size. It can mount to either M1913 Picatinny or m-lok rail.
The Details
As I’ve said before, God is in the details. And while the zip-tie slots are not the most important AXON feature, they are pretty damn cool. The M1913 rail grabbers feature two slots that accept off-the-shelf mini zip-ties. These can be used to make small loops for cable management if needed.
AXON has several models.
Standard—Light and laser buttons are mutually exclusive. The light button only fires the light, the laser button only fires the laser.
Sync—Laser button fires the laser in whatever mode it is physically set to. The Light button fires both light and laser simultaneously (laser still fires in whatever mode it is physically set to).
DBAL—Designed specifically for the Steiner DBAL-A3. Laser lead has a “Y” splitter with two laser plugs. One plug goes into the mode select port; the other goes into the visible override port. The laser button fires the DBAL-A3 in whatever mode it is physically set to. The light button fires the light and laser simultaneously. The laser will fire in visible mode regardless of whether it is physically set to infrared.
NGAL—Designed specifically for the L-3Harris NGAL (LA-23). The laser button fires the NGAL in whatever mode it is physically set to. The light button fires the light and laser simultaneously. The NGAL will fire in visible mode regardless of it being physically set to infrared.
As I mentioned, I do not like writing about products made by the company I work for, so I don’t want to sound self-serving. But I do like writing about game-changing products that the community should know about. So I’m deciding to break my rule this one time. AXON truly is the pinnacle of remote switch design. It is the culmination of decades of remote switch use and trials.
Unity Tactical
AXON
URL: unitytactical.com
