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Corps, Army want long-range sniper rifle

DALLAS — The Army and the Marine Corps both want a new, long-range sniper rifle, designed to kill enemy out to 1,800 meters.

While details are sketchy, the Corps-led program is aimed at selecting a 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,” Lt. Col. Tracy Tafalla, program manager for infantry weapons at Marine Corps System Command, said Tuesday at the International Infantry & 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.”

The Army and the Marines both 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.

Neither service gave details as to what caliber the new weapon would fire or when it might be fielded.

Tafalla said it would be “several” months before industry would see a request for proposal for the new system.

Radcliffe and Tafalla also briefly discussed other upcoming programs for soldiers and Marines in the precision shooting line of work.

The Army wants a new squad-designated marksman rifle, Radcliffe said.

Currently, SDMs in an infantry squad carry older, 7.62 mm M14 rifles with long-range optics to fill the gap between riflemen who shoot out to 300 meters and snipers who shoot out to 800 meters.

Radcliffe gave no timeline for the program but said the Army wants a weapon that looks similar to the M4 carbine.

“We think it will be a carbine look-alike, so he doesn’t stand out in the formation,” and make an obvious target for the enemy, Radcliffe said. He added that the new weapon would likely be chambered for 5.56mm and be able to hit targets out to 600 meters.

The Marines, on the other hand, want a new semiautomatic sniper rifle to replace their M40 bolt-action sniper weapon.

Marines in the combat zone “want it now. Actually, they wanted it months ago,” Tafalla told industry representatives, adding that he expects to have a program document outlining the specifications ready with in a month.

The Army recently began fielding the M110 Semiautomatic Sniper System chambered for 7.62mm, but Tafalla indicated that the Marines may want something else.

“We will take a look at those weapons within the system,” he said. “But right now … I’m not sure if there is anything that we have in the [Defense Department’s inventory] that’s going to meet that requirement.”