The Picatinny rail ( or ), or Pic rail for short, also known as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, 1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail (cancelled), is a rail integration system that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It was originally used for mounting of scopes atop the receivers of larger caliber rifles. Once established as United States Military Standard, its use expanded to also attaching other accessories, such as: iron sights, tactical lights, laser aiming modules, night vision devices, reflex sights, holographic sights, foregrips, bipods, slings and bayonets. An updated version of the rail is adopted as a NATO standard as the STANAG 4694 NATO Accessory Rail. History Attempts to standardize the Weaver rail designs date back to the early 1980s from work by the A.R.M.S. company and Otto Repa. Specifications for the M16A2E4 rifle and the M4E1 carbine received type classification generic in December 1994. These were the M16A2 and the M4 modified with new upper receivers where rails replaced hand guards. The rail itself is named after the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, which was named "after the Lenape-named peak overlooking the old forge, loosely translated to mean 'rugged cliff by water' or 'water by the hills'." The Picatinny Arsenal was tasked in 1992 to develop a standardized mounting system after the U.S. Army was dissatisfied with the contemporary products on the market. The Picatinny team was headed by mechanical designer Gary Houtsma (who was awarded the Order of Saint Maurice Award in 2014 for this contribution), who took the measurements from 20 or so different Weaver rail products from weapons bunkers at Picatinny (and even local sporting goods stores) and came up with an average set of numbers set on a 45-degree angled surface. Houtsma then took the specifications over to the production facility and requested they design a dimensioning style so the rail could be easily produced and inspected. The factory recognized the similarity of the purposed rail interface to the existing rail design on 105 mm howitzers, so they chose to scale down the howitzer rail design and co-opted the production and inspection procedures. The team then sent the finished prototype over to Rock Island Arsenal for review and trial, and then to the technical data section to determine if it should be a standard or a specification. After it was determined that the new rail should be a standard, not a specification, it was