Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the general staff, said that each brigade of the Russian Armed Forces will be assigned a special unit consisting exclusively of snipers. Since the course of hostilities has changed significantly in recent decades, snipers are no less in demand in battle than whole armadas of tanks. However, there are no corresponding sniper rifles in Russia, so the Russian military will have to purchase these weapons abroad.
Nikolai Makarov made a statement about special sniper units for each brigade of the armed forces in front of reporters, while at the same time complaining about the overall quality of military equipment produced in Russia. For example, he spoke negatively about the newest Russian T-90S tank, which was exhibited in Nizhny Tagil and studied by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Makarov claims that the tank has many flaws that need to be eliminated before putting it into operation. True, at the same time, Makarov spoke positively about the tank's rifle turret, saying that it was in no way inferior to the best foreign counterparts, and even surpassed in some characteristics.
But at the same time, he argues that today the nature of hostilities is changing significantly, so Russian gunsmiths must constantly adapt to this.
Makarov believes that today each brigade should be assigned a special sniper unit. Since today the role of snipers is increasing significantly - most of the hostilities are conducted in cities.
Many domestic experts fully support this decision. Alexander Khramchikhin, head of the analytical department of the Institute for Military and Political Analysis, believes that this can be a useful innovation if all the necessary reforms are carried out correctly. Moreover, not so many resources are needed for implementation - privates and sergeants are usually recruited into snipers. It should be recalled that today a sniper is assigned to each company, but they did not undergo special training and did not perform combat missions on their own - only as part of a combat unit.
At the same time, a subdivision of snipers can be used en masse, to destroy large concentrations of enemy manpower, and distributed among various subdivisions. It all depends on what tasks are facing the unit at a particular moment. This is exactly what Andrey Frolov, an expert from the Center for Analysis of Technologies and Strategies, reports. It was decided to introduce such an innovation after studying the experience of the Chechen wars, as well as the Georgian campaign that took place in 2008.
Most likely, the weapons of snipers will be foreign rifles. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense is already purchasing sniper rifles from the British company Accuracy International.
British, as well as Finnish, rifles could be the best weapons for such special purpose units, says Frolov. He believes that this market offers a fairly large selection, so you can give preference to the most suitable models.
However, it is still possible that preference can be given to the old, proven in battles around the world, SVD. However, Frolov believes that she has many shortcomings from the point of view of an experienced sniper. In total, at least 10 thousand rifles will be needed to arm the fighters of sniper units.
Frolov also spoke negatively about the quality of such domestic rifles as SV-98, SV-99, OSV-96 (12.7 mm caliber).
At the same time, it should be recalled that over the past few years, the state defense order of Russia did not include sniper rifles at all. However, if the Ministry of Defense turns to a defense company, then specialists can confidently provide suitable projects that can satisfy all requirements.
In the suburbs, by the end of the month, firing will be carried out with the use of pistol, automatic and sniper weapons. Moreover, both Russian and foreign samples will take part here. Perhaps, it is on the basis of these firing that a decision will be made on the purchase of rifles.
