New Delhi: Elite units of the Indian Army, equipped with deadly new sniper rifles, have been deployed along the Line of Control with Pakistan after special training from American and Italian experts.
Sources in the Army told ThePrint that units carrying the Beretta .338 Lapua Magnum Scorpio TGT and the Barrett .50 calibre M95 have been deployed at the LoC ahead of the infiltration season, which is expected to start soon.
Specials units, along with some regular soldiers from the LoC battalions, have been trained by experts from abroad on the use of these weapons and the different kinds of ammunition to be used based on operational requirements.
Sources said since these rifles have a much longer range and power than the ageing Russian Dragunov that the soldiers were using until now, specialised training had to be given so that targets could be taken out at over 1,000 metres with precision.
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What’s special about the new rifles
The US-made Barrett M95 is an anti-material rifle which has a range of 1,800 metres. An anti-material rifle means the bullet can actually pierce through metal.
The gun, which is in use with many special forces around the world, is a bolt-action sniper rifle chambered in a .50 Browing Machine Gun cartridge (12.7×99mm).
With an unloaded gun weighing about 10 kg, the M95 first came out in 1995, and is part of the Barrett M82 family, the first notable American made .50 calibre anti-material rifles introduced in 1982.
The rifle feeds from a five-round detachable box magazine, and is lighter and more compact than earlier products.
The other rifle handed to troops along the LoC is the Victrix Armaments .338 Lapua Magnum Scorpio TGT, owned by Italian firm Beretta.
The Scorpio TGT uses the .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6×70mm or 8.58×70mm), a rimless, bottle-necked, centre-fire rifle cartridge.
It was developed in the 1980s as a high-powered, long-range cartridge for military snipers. It was used in the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war.
Although the .338 Lapua Magnum was initially developed to penetrate body armour at 1,000 metres, it has been used effectively to 1,500 metres and beyond, and holds the distinction of being part of some of the record-breaking sniper shots in war.
At least 30 countries use the .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rifles, and over a dozen manufacturers produce guns, in multiple configurations, in this calibre.
Also read: With Dhanush howitzer, Artillery Corps lends a major combat arm to Indian Army at LoC
Indian Army should go for Victrix Tormentum Sniper rifles for extreme long range shooting
Two stupid countries fighting against eachother when they should have been friends . Its amazing how racism shapes the world even in 2019.
A few months back , The Print carried an article which stated that Indian Army required sniper rifles in their fight against terrorism in the Kashmir valley. It too appeared a bit out of place and more like a commercial need , probably a precursor to this acquisition.
Wish this article had covered the process of selection covering which all Sniper Rifles were evaluated and why these two were chosen over the others and the present one.
Lastly, the logic of two types of Sniper rifles is not understood.
@msn whats wrong in it? shed your ego that Indian army is the best.This is a foreign made sniper and only manufacturer know the special feature and operations of the gun.Ita not that Indian soldiers are inefficient,but these gadgets have special features to assist the sniping solidiers which the solider needed to be trained inititially.
The correct term is anti-materiel, not anti-material. Materiel refers to military equipment.
Thank you Debsena Banerjee for explaining the diff. bet. Material and Materiel.
The picture shows British Accuracy International 338 Lapua. Pakistan has purchased large quantities of superior RPA Rangemaster 50cal. Not sure this is a very helpful article a) for buying decisions of Indian Forces b) de-escalating tensions in the region.
Good news for the Indian armed forces on the western borders. The sniping by PAK BAT can be eliminated permanently by permanently eliminating the PAK BAT. JAI HIND
India should use rail guns at the border synched with geostationary Indian spy satellites to detect intruders attempting to cross the border….
Rail guns ? What are you talking about ? No country on earth deploys rail guns. That too for a sniper attack.
Snipers. Pakistan will now face the medicine it has been dishing out to Indian soldiers. across the LOC. Except, should there not have been some attention paid to ammunition compatibility and would not one standard have done better than two?
Is it news or advertisement. Indian security forces are not new for sniper rifles neither they require training from outsiders. It’s very upsetting news, Either this is a paid News or purposely in print to demoralised security forces.