As the Army Times recently reported, the Army’s newest sniper rifle, the XM2010, has done very well for itself in the Afghanistan theater of operations—so well, it appeared the Army was ready to make the XM2010 its chief sniper rifle.
When the original XM2010 contract went in to effect last September, Army officials “said the first 250 rifles would be ready by early December and sent directly to Afghanistan,” according to Army Times. “No matter how many are there, this is clear: The weapon’s performance has been strong enough to warrant full fielding.”
“The question is whether to ‘pure fleet,’ and that is the direction we’re going in,” said Brigadier General Peter Fuller, Program Executive Office Soldier.
“To ‘pure fleet’ means the Army would upgrade its 2,500 M24 sniper rifle chassis to XM2010s. The $28 million contract included the funds to allow manufacturer Remington to upgrade or produce 3,600 rifles over five years.”
Technically, the XM2010 is an upgraded version of the M24 sniper rifle. But those upgrades were so significant the rifle required a new official designator. “Notably, the XM2010 transitioned from the 7.62mm NATO caliber (.308 Winchester) to a .300 Winchester Magnum. This increased a sniper’s effective range from 800 to 1,200 meters.”
Another big change: “the rifle comes with the Advanced Armament Corp. Titan-QD Fast-Attach suppressor. The 10-inch suppressor eliminates 98 percent of muzzle flash and 60 percent of recoil and reduces sound by 32 decibels, according to AAC, which recently was acquired by Remington.”
Source: Army Times 4/25/11
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