The new bi-caliber
sniper rifle and its ammunition load will be created using solely domestic
materials and components, according to the chief designer.
MOSCOW, March 1.
/TASS/. A new sniper system being developed in Russia under the experimental
design work codenamed Ugolyok will be ready in four years, Chief Designer for
the Ratnik Soldier Gear at the TsNIITochMash defense contractor Oleg Nekrasov
said on Friday.
The new rifle will be
chambered for Russian rounds, although it will have NATO calibers: .308
Winchester (7.62x51 mm) and the more powerful .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6x70 mm).
"The Institute
[TsNIITochMash] is carrying out work on new sniper systems under a technical
assignment from the Defense Ministry," the chief designer said.
"It will be
necessary to develop new rifles, new sights and new cartridges in the NATO
calibers: .308 Winchester and .338 Lapua Magnum, new gunpowder and new
detonators. The work is planned to be completed in four years," Nekrasov
said.
The new bi-caliber
sniper rifle and its ammunition load will be created using solely domestic
materials and components, the chief designer stressed.
As TsNIITochMash
Deputy CEO Mikhail Levshunov explained, six different rifle prototypes are
currently undergoing tests as part of this experimental design work.
"Two rifles of
different ammunition suites from the TsKIB (the Central Design and Research
Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Guns, a branch of the Shipunov Instrument Design
Bureau), two rifles from the Kalashnikov Group and our two rifles,"
Levshunov stressed.
The rifles developed
by Lobaev Arms are not involved in the tests as they do not meet the Defense
Ministry’s requirements for domestic components and cannot comply with all the
state standards, TsNIITochMash specified.
Hi-tech firm
developing new sniper rifle for Russian troops
Russia’s
TsNIITochMash defense contractor (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec)
is developing a new semi-automatic sniper rifle codenamed Ugolyok and chambered
for .308 and .338 Lapua Magnum rounds, TsNIITochMash CEO Albert Bakov told
Izvestia daily on Thursday.
"Work is
underway on the Ugolyok project. It relates to developing sniper systems for
the Defense Ministry - two semi-automatic sniper rifles. We are developing
rifles for the .308 and .338 Lapua Magnum rounds," Bakov said.
TsNIITochMash earlier
carried out similar experimental design work for special services but the
requirements set by the Defense Ministry are tighter, he pointed out.
"They [the
special services] employ a somewhat different approach towards complete sets
than the Defense Ministry, which has set tight conditions for us: no imported
components," the TsNIITochMash chief executive explained.
The Ugolyok is being
developed not as a replacement for the Dragunov sniper rifle, he emphasized.
"One can spend
several billions [billions of rubles] [on developing a weapon] for the
distances, to which the Dragunov sniper rifle operates, and achieve nothing.
The Dragunov has been brought to its perfection," the chief executive
said, adding, however, that ‘in some cases, rifles operational at larger
distances are needed."
Now the basic task
for developers is to create new rounds, he said.
The first models are
ready and are undergoing trials and they are being finalized based on the
comments that have been made. The rounds are an integral part of the sniper
system that includes the rifle and the detachable equipment, the TsNIITochMash
chief executive said.
Source: ITAR-TASS
01-03-2019
