U.S. special forces seek new long range sniper rifles

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-02-01

Tongdao Think Tank 2024-01-10 11:30 Published in Heilongjiang.

According to a recent report by the US News Network, the US side is looking for long-range sniper rifles equipped with special operations forces in order to maintain an advantage in potential future conflicts.

The U.S. Special Operations Command is conducting market research for the so-called "Extreme Long-Range Sniper Rifle" (ELR-SR), which has precision firepower up to a range of 2,500 meters.

A modular sniper system capable of using multiple bullet calibers, the ELR-SR will replace two guns in the arsenal of the United States: the widely used Barrett M10750 caliber sniper rifles, which have an effective range of 2000 meters, and Mk 15 sniper rifles, which are mainly used by Navy SEALs, have an effective range of 1800 meters.

The record for the longest shooting by a long-range sniper was achieved by the legendary Marine sniper Carlos Hascock in Vietnam in 1967 at a distance of up to 2286 meters (2500 yards) with m250 caliber machine guns instead of conventional sniper rifles are set.

The record remained undefeated until 2002, when Canadian Army sniper Arron Perry made a confirmed kill with a C15 at 2310 meters (or 2526 yards). Another Canadian Army sniper, Rob Furlon, with a C15, hit the target at a distance of 2430 meters.

The Pentagon has put a lot of effort into breaking through its sniper capabilities. Both the Army and the Marine Corps have in recent years put into service new Maxman rifles (a variant of the M110A1 squadron designated Maxman rifle and the M38 M27 infantry automatic rifle) and new sniper rifles (M110A1 compact semi-automatic sniper system and MK 13 mod 7).

The report on the evolution of Russian tactics found that Russian snipers had become "more advanced than the U.S. precision firing formations encountered in U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 15 years," largely because Russian sniper teams acquired "a level of sophistication comparable to rifles in U.S. stocks."

In response to the growing threat posed by Russian fighter jets, the US Army has accelerated the deployment of qualified fighters in the designated Maxman role. In 2020, the M110A1 SDMR was put into the first troops.

Currently, both the US Army and the Marine Corps are in the process of adopting the modular multi-caliber Barrett Multi-Role Adaptive Design (MRAD) sniper rifle. The rifle can hit targets at a distance of 1500 meters and will eventually replace most of the existing sniper systems in their respective ** arsenals in the coming years.

Although the ELR-SR has a range of 2500 meters, it does not indicate that the American special operations forces will break the record for each shot.

The company may eventually produce the ELR-SR as SOCOM, but in December last year, Barrett released a new long-range sniper rifle — the MRAD-Extreme Long Range (MRAD-ELR), which would meet many of the required specifications.

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