Sniper units will appear in the army
Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the general staff, said that each brigade of the Russian Armed Forces will be given a special unit consisting solely of snipers. Since the course of hostilities has changed significantly in recent decades, snipers are no less in demand in battle than whole armadas from tanks. However, in Russia there are no corresponding sniper rifles, so this weapon Russian military will have to buy abroad.A statement about the special sniper units for each brigade of the armed forces, Nikolai Makarov made to reporters, at the same time complaining about the overall quality of the armed equipment produced in Russia. For example, he spoke negatively about the newest Russian tank T-90С, which was exhibited in Nizhny Tagil and studied by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Makarov argues that the tank has a lot of flaws that need to be addressed before putting it into operation. True, at the same time, Makarov positively responded about the tank turret, saying that it was not inferior to the best foreign counterparts, and surpassed in some characteristics.
But at the same time, he argues that today the nature of the conduct of hostilities varies considerably, therefore, Russian gunsmiths must constantly adapt to this.
Makarov believes that today each brigade should be given a special sniper unit. Since today the role of snipers is significantly increasing - most of the fighting is conducted in cities.
Many domestic experts fully support this decision. Alexander Khramchikhin - head of the analytical department of the Institute of Military and Political Analysis - believes that this can be a useful innovation if all the necessary reforms are carried out correctly. Moreover, for the implementation you need not so many resources - snipers are usually recruited privates and sergeants. It should be recalled that today the sniper is assigned to each company, but they did not undergo special training and did not perform combat tasks on their own - only as part of a combat unit.
At the same time, the unit of snipers can be applied in large quantities, to destroy large concentrations of enemy personnel, or be distributed among various units. It all depends on what tasks the division is facing at a particular moment. This is exactly how Andrei Frolov, an expert from the center for analyzing technologies and strategies, reports. It was decided to introduce such an innovation after studying the experience of the Chechen wars, as well as the Georgian campaign that took place in 2008.
Most likely, the armament of snipers will be foreign rifles. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense has already purchased sniper rifles of the British company Accuracy International.
British and Finnish rifles could be the best weapons for such parts of the special purpose, says Frolov. He believes that this market offers a fairly large selection, so you can give preference to the most suitable models.
However, it is still possible that preference may be given to the old, proven in battles around the world SVD. However, Frolov believes that she has many shortcomings from the point of view of an experienced sniper. In total, for arming the soldiers of the sniper units will need at least 10 thousands of rifles.
Frolov also spoke negatively about the quality of such domestic rifles as the CB-98, CB-99, OSV-96 (caliber 12,7 millimeter).
It should be recalled that over the past few years, Russia's state defense order did not include sniper rifles at all. However, if the Ministry of Defense turns to the defense company, the specialists will surely be able to provide suitable projects that will satisfy all requirements.
In the Moscow region, by the end of the month, firing with the use of pistol, automatic and sniper weapons will be conducted. Moreover, both Russian and foreign samples will take part here. It is possible that the decision on the purchase of rifles will be made based on the results of these firing.
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