New longer-range rifles for UK troops in Afghanistan
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, June 7, IRNA – British troops are being supplied with new longer-range American rifles in Afghanistan after suffering increasing casualties.
Royal Marines in Sangin, Helmand province, are the first in the front line to use the semi-automatic Sharpshooter, which also fires a larger 7.62mm round, Britain’s Ministry of Defence announced Monday.
The guns are the first new infantry combat rifles to be given to British troops in over two decades and more than 400 have been bought to help engage insurgents over longer distances in a £1.5 million purchase from Urgent Operational Requirement funds.
The change was said to have been made after the military found that the standard Nato 5.66 rounds, which had proved adequate in Iraq, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, lost velocity at ranges over a thousand feet.
British forces are also understood to have started receiving the first batches of shotguns for close combat and will be used for clearing compounds in the rural areas.
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