Snipers are top threat in Marjah, Conway says - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Snipers are top threat in Marjah, Conway says

The biggest threat to Marines assaulting the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, Afghanistan, isn’t improvised explosive devices, but sniper fire, the Marine Corps’ top officer said Wednesday.

Commandant Gen. James Conway made the observation while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on the service’s 2011 budget. Asked if the service had everything it needs to succeed in Afghanistan, he said yes, but he added that the Corps is pushing industry to develop a helmet that can stop a 7.62mm round, which are fired from the AK47 rifles favored by insurgents.

“Right now, the biggest threat in Marjah is not necessarily the IEDs for our killed in action, it is the sniper that takes a long-range shot and can penetrate our protective equipment, particularly the helmet,” he said. “So we continue to pound the table on that with hopes that one day we’ll have that piece of gear in hand.”

The acknowledgement is a sign of the difficulties Marines have faced in Marjah since leading an assault on the town, a known insurgent stronghold and narcotics hub in Helmand province, that began Feb. 13. Pentagon officials say that more than 70 percent of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan have been caused by IEDs, but coalition forces involved in Marjah face both snipers and IEDs with regularity.

The Pentagon does not release the specific cause of death for each service member, but numerous service members have been killed by small-arms fire since the assault on Marjah began, according to the International Security Assistance Force headed by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The Washington Post reported recently that the same insurgent sniper had shot at least three Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. One died, another was hit in the shoulder and the third escaped with a welt on his head after a rifle round deflected off his helmet.

Five new plastic helmets designed by four companies to withstand larger rifle rounds failed when tested by the Corps late in 2009. Marine officials wouldn’t say how they failed but said they planned to press on with the program, overseen by Marine Corps Systems Command at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.