Army, Marine Corps eye long-range sniper rifle

Army, Marine Corps eye long-range sniper rifle
By Matthew Cox - Staff Writer
Posted : Wednesday May 21, 2008 19:04:10 EDT

DALLAS — Both the Army and the Marine Corps want a new, long-range sniper rifle, designed to kill an enemy from as far away as 1,800 meters.

While details are sketchy, the Marine Corps-led program is aimed at selecting this long-range “anti-personnel” sniper weapon to complement the standard 7.62mm sniper rifle, a weapon that’s effective out to 800 meters.

“We are looking at about a 1,500- to 1,800-meter range to engage man-sized targets at those ranges — that is going to be a challenge, we know that,” Marine Lt. Col. Tracy Tafalla, program manager for infantry weapons from the Marine Corps System Command at Marine Base Quantico, said Tuesday at the International Infantry and Joint Services Small Arms Systems Symposium.

Army Col. Robert Radcliffe, director of the Army’s Directorate of Combat Developments at Fort Benning, Ga., told a mixed audience of small-arms industry representatives and military officials that the Army also wants “a capability that really allows the trained sniper to engage targets at very long distances.”

Both the Army and the Marines use versions of a .50-caliber sniper rifle — a weapon with a range out to 2,000 meters — but is mainly intended to hit and destroy targets larger than personnel, such as light-skinned vehicles.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/army_longrange_052108w/