Final Sniper Rifle Delivered to UK Troops

Final Sniper Rifle Delivered to UK Troops

(NSI News Source Info) November 13, 2008: Snipers fulfil a vital and enduring role on the battlefield, in terms of intelligence gathering, target identification and eliminating high value targets. Unveiled earlier this year, the L115A3 rifle, part of the Sniper System Improvement Programme (SSIP) is a larger calibre weapon and provides state of the art telescopic day and night, all-weather sights, increasing a sniper's effective range considerably; thereby beating enemy forces capability. Group Captain Paul Ridge, the DE&S Light Weapons, Photography and Batteries Integrated Project Team Leader said: "I am delighted to accept the delivery of the last weapon of this order from Accuracy International whose co-operation and performance has been outstanding. "The new weapon system has already been used on operations and is proving to be an outstanding system. Having just returned from Afghanistan, where I had the opportunity to discuss the weapon system with snipers - it is clear that this battle-winning equipment has already proven to be a reliable and extremely accurate system that is giving our forces a real edge" The first batch of SSIP systems was deployed to Afghanistan with members of 16 Air Assault Brigade in May this year with subsequent deliveries being made to training units across the UK.

Tom Irwin, Managing Director of Accuracy International said,

"Accuracy International has supplied sniper rifles to the British forces since the eighties. We accepted the challenge to provide a new .338 calibre rifle and were selected by the MoD, after testing and trials and against international competition. The SSIP contract is extremely significant to us and we have exerted all of our effort to complete this programme on time. We are proud to supply the best .338 sniper rifle in the world to our forces." BACKGROUND NOTE:

-- Accuracy International Ltd is based in Portsmouth and employs around 40 people -- Day sights are manufactured by Schmidt & Bender

-- Other elements of the Sniper System Improvement programme include night sights, spotting scopes, laser range finders and tripods, and will be sourced from a variety of suppliers taking the total procurement value to over £11 million.