Posted on 03/16/2007 11:22:12 PM PDT by chasio649
THEY had been waiting since before dawn, dug into a makeshift hide, almost half a mile behind enemy lines.
The four Royal Marine Commando snipers sat huddled in the dark, scouring a Taleban compound through the scopes on their L96A1 sniper rifles.
They had been watching the target since before dawn. The order to fire came an hour after first light. They levelled their bolt-action, single-shot rifles at two Taleban sentries less than 250 metres away. Village dogs were barking but the insurgents never saw their killers.
The marines counted down from five, in unison, and the crack of four bullets rang out as one. The two sentries fell down dead. Confirmed kills: two, collateral damage: zero, and the snipers withdrew.
"They [the other Taleban] were looking around for us but they couldn't find us. We could see them and they weren't very happy," Corporal Simon, 36, told The Scotsman.
The snipers do such a sensitive job that few have been interviewed before, and those interviewed by this newspaper would only use their first names.
The sentries became the 39th and 40th kills of the elite and ultra-secretive Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) unit who, for the last six months, have been operating as part of 42 Commando in Helmand prov-ince. "We are the sharp end of the needle," Corporal Simon said.
The Taleban fighters killed during an operation this week had been based in the village of Olehabad, three-and-a-half kilometres from the marines' remote outpost at Kajaki.
Kajaki is the site of a dam and hydroelectric plant and is in desperate need of refurbishment. The USAID organisation is funding a project to add another turbine but before work can begin, it has insisted that a 6km safety zone is established. So far, marine commandos have cleared a 3km area outside the dam, but beyond that the Taleban are still very much in control.
It is outside this area that the snipers are at their most effective. Under cover of darkness, they patrol into position, dig a hide and wait. They fire off only a few shots before withdrawing.
They are backed up by a troop of marines who hide nearby and they also have a fire-support team travelling in highly mobile, heavily armed, open-topped Land Rovers to call upon.
On the latest operation, as the marine snipers were extracting themselves, they were ambushed from several directions by Taleban insurgents, who at times were as close as 200 meters. Smoke mortars were fired from a nearby hill and the snipers got back to base safely.
"As we collapsed our position we knew we were getting flanked and were ambushed and pinned down with small arms for a bit," said the corporal. The snipers' job in Afghanistan is made more difficult because Taleban rebels routinely use women and children as shields. They have also been known to dress as women and hide weapons under shawls.
"I've seen a fighter sitting on a motorbike with a woman and a kid on the back ... that's the hardest thing, finding the target," said the corporal. "I have a wife and kid, too, and I don't want to take the shot if I'm going to hit the wrong person."
The elite Royal Marine snipers take every precaution to ensure the man in their crosshairs is the one they want. All have graduated from Commando sniper school, considered the best course of its kind in the world.
"We have a pass rate of only 30 per cent - it's tough to get through," said Marine Ben, 22.
"The Royal Marine sniper school is the best in the world," added Marine Brendan, also just 22.
• THE L96A1 sniper rifle used by British forces in Afghanistan is manufactured by the Portsmouth company Accuracy International.
It was purpose-built for sniping, rather than being a variant of an existing weapon.
The company says it uses performance enhancing features learned in Olympic and international target shooting in the design of its weapons.
Accurate to a range of 1,000 metres, the rifle can shoot groups of 7.62mm bullets in a 51mm radius at 550 metres. It is generally fitted with a Schmidt & Bender 6 x 42 scope.
It has special de-icing features allowing it to be used effectively at temperatures as low as -40C. The stockhole, bolt, magazine release and trigger guard are large enough to be easily used while wearing heavy gloves.
The L96A1 is recognised as one of the best sniper rifles in the world and is used by the armed forces of Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Singapore.
It seems more like a puff piece to "warn" the enemy to their presence. I trust no paper that talks about Special Ops. Special Ops. should be like your mother farting, you know it happens but you shouldn't think about it or talk about it.
That's what I thought.I've shot woodchucks at that distance with iron sights.If they had said 800 meters I'd have been more impressed.
... the rifle can shoot groups of .30 cal bullets in a 4" circle at 600 yards.
or was it 5.56mm?!
:P
Target practice?
Excuse me, live fire exercise :)
Hell son, round these parts that's clearing the chamber!
And we don't need three buddies to help...
bump
51mm is more like 2" (2" = 50.8mm).
New Olympic event? Synchronized sniping? Hey, I'm just glad these men are on our side :) God bless them!
Iraq and Afghanistan are relatively open country.
51mm is about 2 inches. 550 meters is a little under 600 yards. A rifle that will stay in a 2 inch radius group (4 inch diameter) is pretty good
"...before work can begin, it has insisted that a 6km safety zone
is established ... marine commandos have cleared a 3km area ...
they patrol into position, dig a hide and wait. They fire off only
a few shots before withdrawing ... They are backed up by a
troop of marines who hide nearby..."
--
Its going to take an awfully long time to clear
the other 3km of the perimeter with this strategy.
Correct. A 2" radius. What I call a 4" circle.
Na Na Na Nah Na "powpow" "powpow"...
:o)
So we're talking about a half minute of accuracy. They should be taking shots from three times that range, then the mohammedens wouldn't be mucking up their exfil.
Exactly.If they had had some more distance,then they could have knocked off a bunch more Taliban-then called for artillery cover and withdrawn.Is anyone using silenced sniper weapons like a 300 whisper caliber bolt gun?They could have killed just about everybody at the site with a couple of those guns.
Ya know, I'm familiar with the concept, but I kinda wonder if they are a little specialized for military applications.
I can't imagine any way to actually suppress a rifle without sending the gases all hither and yon. That's got to play holy hell with sniper level accuracy...especially with multiple shots.
Also, the payload to powder ratio has got to REALLY restrict the range those things are good at.
I'm sure they're great for sentry removal (how ironic), but general application?
The weapons are good to 300 meters in skilled hands,and modern suppressors don't hinder accuracy.The new suppressors work by cooling and redirecting the expelled gases internally with multiple baffles and ported tubes.Mine works great,but does heat up fairly quickly.
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