If one looks at the article from Col. Cooper one will note that it was written in 1984.
Electronic sights were in their early infancy at the time, not in any comparable to the robustness, and longevity. It wasn't until the year 2000 that the first major use of red dots was made, the Army's M68 CCO (Aimpoint Comp M2). It had roughly a 1-year battery life of 10,000 hours (given 8760hrs/year) and was often changed semi-annually to be sure it would work when needed. Today's RDS batteries can be changed in between deployments or enlistments.
The rate at which things advance can be staggering. Has anyone that has a laser designator looked at what the earliest commercial models looked like?
And what the
equivalent is today...