US military chooses new long-range sniper weapon
The Americans began looking for a replacement for the rifles that had served the GI faithfully for over 60 years. This is not just about updating weapons, but about a sharp increase in its characteristics in terms of range and accuracy of fire.
At the end of April, it became known that the US Marine Corps was developing requirements for a new generation sniper rifle with an effective range of 1,500 m. The future weapon was tentatively designated SR21 - the 21st century sniper rifle. When the corps will formulate its preferences for the SR21 is not yet known, however, according to its representatives, the requests of the Marine Corps are very close to those of the Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), which announced a tender for the new sniper rifle in March 2010.
The future "tool" for snipers from US special forces units should be no longer than 132 cm in combat readiness and not have components longer than 101 cm. Weight is limited to 8, 1 kg with a loaded magazine and a Picatinny rail (standard bracket for attaching sights and other additional devices). The cartridge is supposed to use a standard, mass-produced cartridge. Magazine capacity - 5 rounds. In accordance with the ideas of the special forces, the transfer of a rifle from a combat position to a transport position in time should not take more than two minutes.
The main requirement, like that of the Marine Corps, is for an effective firing range of at least 1500 m. At the same time, the accuracy of fire should be 1 minute of arc (MOA) in a group of 10 shots at ranges of 300, 600, 900, 1200 and 1500 m …
The new weapon is intended to replace the M40, M24 and MK13 rifles used by special forces. They are in service not only in special forces, but also (respectively) in the US Marine Corps, Army and Navy. All three are based on the Remington 700, which has been in production since 1962. This is a magazine weapon with a sliding bolt action.
The main ammunition for American sniper rifles is currently the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. There are also modifications for such common cartridges as.300 Winchester Magnum and.338 Lapua Magnum.
USSOCOM does not specifically specify the caliber and type of ammunition for the new rifle, thus the tenderers are given the opportunity to search for the best option. However, according to a number of experts, the standard 7.62 mm NATO cartridge is not suitable for creating long-range sniper weapons. The most acceptable candidate is probably the.338 Lapua Magnum. This ammunition was created in 1983 by the American firm Research Armament Industries (RAI) specifically for long-range sniper shooting. In metric terms, it has a caliber of 8, 58 mm and a length of 71 mm. It owes its name to the Finnish company Lapua, which the Americans ordered the production of a new cartridge in 1984.
The.338 Lapua Magnum cartridge can be used at a range of up to 1800 m, but aimed fire from weapons designed for this ammunition is conducted just at the 1500 m distance required by USSOCOM and the Marine Corps. At a range of 1000 m, the technical accuracy of fire can reach 0.5 MOA.
To date, 12 companies are interested in participating in the tender of the Special Operations Command, including the American division of the Belgian FN Herstal, as well as Barrett Firearms, Desert Tactical Arms, Remington. The last three have already created and are offering for supply modern sniper weapons, from which it is possible to conduct aimed fire at the required range of 1500 m. These are the Modular Sniper Rifle (MSR) from Remington Arms, 98B from Barrett Firearms, and Stealth Recon Scout from Desert Tactical Arms. The first two have a traditional layout, the latter is built according to the bullpup scheme. In terms of their weight and size characteristics, all samples with a margin fit into the requirements set by USSOCOM. The smallest and lightest of these is the Stealth Recon Scout, although its barrel is somewhat shorter than the rest of the rifles. The MSR and 98B have a modular design with quick-change barrels. The delivery set may include several barrels and bolts for different calibers. This solution increases the tactical flexibility of the weapon, and also allows for training shooting with cheaper ammunition.
Given such a wide offer of sniper rifles that meet the requirements, the Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps, most likely, will not have to bother themselves with choosing the best option.
It should be noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense is also dissatisfied with the sniper rifles available in the troops, the main of which remains the SVD. This summer, it is planned to conduct comparative tests of modern weapons for snipers, in which, in addition to domestic ones, foreign manufacturers will also take part. So far, the favorite among foreign manufacturers is the British company Accuracy International - the developer of the AW (Arctic Warfare) rifle, which is in service with the Kingdom's Armed Forces under the designation L96A1.
The AW rifle has a number of modifications for different cartridges. Including the long-range.338 Lapua. With this ammunition, the effective firing range from it is at least 1100 m. The AW is one of the most high-precision tactical rifles: depending on the cartridge and barrel length, the accuracy of fire ranges from 0.4 to 0.7 MOA.
In addition to England, the high performance characteristics of this weapon were appreciated in 28 other states, the security forces of which adopted it.
