Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, who heads the secretary of defense' Close Combat Lethality Task Force, challenged industry and government leaders to do better and deliver a leap-ahead rifle in less than two years.
The top Special Operations Forces snipers will replace their 7.62mm sniper rifles with a the 6.5mm Creedmoor, which doubles their hit probability at 1,000m, increases their effective range by nearly half, reduces wind drift by a third and has less recoil.
The Department of Homeland Security plans to get rid of all its 7.62mm NATO, or .308 caliber, long-range rifle ammunition and replace it with an intermediate caliber that Special Operations snipers will field next year.
A former U.S. Army sniper and two other ex-American soldiers were convicted Wednesday in the contract killing of a real estate agent in the Philippines for an international crime boss who thought the woman had cheated him on a land deal.
Marines will soon begin replacing the M110 with the shorter, more ergonomic Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System rifle that's been in the Army since 2016.