Întreprinderea Optică Română ("Romanian Optical Enterprise"), often abbreviated by the acronym IOR, is a major optics company established in 1936 in Bucharest. IOR produces military and civilian-grade optics and associated equipment for export and domestic production. The company is known in North America particularly for its riflescopes (the LPS 4x6° TIP2), binoculars and other sporting optics, which often accompany Romanian military equipment sold on the North American market, such as the PSL rifle.
The company was established in 1936 as a joint-venture between the Romanian industrialists Nicolae Malaxa and Max Auschnitt, engineer Petre Carp, with participation from the French companies Optique & Précision de Levallois and Bernard-Turnne.
In 1941, when Romania entered the war alongside Nazi Germany, IOR was militarised and was tasked to produce mainly for the Romanian Army. The first military scopes were produced at this moment for what was then the standard Romanian sniper rifle, the Vz. 24. After the war, though the production continued under Soviet domination, the company maintained links to famous Western European firms such as Carl Zeiss AG, Leica, Pentacon and Schneider Kreuznach, which assisted IOR in its modernization and expansion in the 1970s. As a consequence of Romania's refusal to join the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union ceased sharing technical information and exporting military equipment (including the newly designed SVD Dragunov). Accordingly, Romania designed the PSL rifle as a substitute for the SVD Dragunov, and IOR was tasked with developing a scope for the rifle as a replacement for the Russian PSO-1. The result was the LPS 4x6° TIP2 telescopic sight, which became the standard Romanian sniper riflescope.
IOR optics are currently imported into the US by Valdada Optics and are marketed as "IOR-Valdada".
IOR's LPS 4x6° TIP2 scopes are commonly found on Eastern Bloc sniper rifles such as the Puşca Semiautomată cu Lunetă, and SVDDragunov. It is also a very common optic on the US commercial market on rifles that feature a compatible side rail mount. IOR was one of the Cold War era manufacturers that survived the transition to a non communist era rather well. This was due in no small part to their close associations with Western European manufacturers and their 1970s modernization. Other manufacturers like the Russian Novosibirsk Instrument Making Plant and Belarusian Zenit company have not been as successful in entering the Western market.
Rifle Scopes range
Romanian PSO-1 style reticle
IOR is producing the following models of rifle scopes for the commercial market. The scopes are produced in batches and thus not all of them are always available on the market. Since early 2000s I.O.R. has started to produce very extravagant tactical scopes with technical solutions not often found by other brands. Among such innovations were: 35mm and 40mm main tubes to achieve greater elevation range, 6×, 7×, 8× and 10× magnification and parallax adjustment in the form of a ring on a central tube. Glass lenses used in their products is usually sourced from Schott AG.
Guns magazine, Sept, 2003 by David M. Fortier; "SOF Field Tests Tactical Optics From Romania" By David M. Fortier January and February Soldier of Fortune 2003.
