Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1034474
L ifespan of the weapon has to be no less than 10,000 shots, muzzle device placed at the end of the barrel must allow quick attachment a sup- pressor. Barrel must be easily (not quick) exchangeable in field and the rifle has to be coated in Khaki, Flat Dark Earth, Grey or Sand col- or. Those were basic terms. Team of engineers from Fabryka Broni Łucznik-Radom and Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna (WAT) com- posed of: Paweł Madej (FB), Ja- nusz Pawlak (FB), Joanna Roma- nowska (FB lead engineer), Łukasz Szmit (WAT), Ryszard Woźniak (WAT) and Mirosław Zahor (WAT) developed concept of new weapon and start the work. Effect of their work is six 7.62 mm x 51 NATO rifles with 16 inch (406 mm) and 20 inch (508 mm) barrels, in DMR version (20") and precision support weapon for airborne and airmobile units (16") based on MSBS-5,56 rifle, but lay far from concept that was made two years ago, yet still fulfilling all of the terms determined by MOD as a potential replacement of SVD rifles. The MOD stated that new DMR platform must be designated to combat enemy live forces (including personal ballistic protection) and unarmored and light armored targets up to 800 meters. According to terms of reference, new rifle has to be semi-auto- matic, gas-operated, 7.62 x 51 mm NATO caliber, with magazine with the capacity no less than 10 rounds. Total weight of the empty rifle with 20 round mag- azine and iron sights without any additional equip- ment (sights, bipod) has to be lower than 6 kilograms (approx. 13.3 lbs) with barrel length under 510 mm and overall length no more than 1100 mm. Rifle has to be equipped with STANAG 4694 Ed.1 top mounting rail in with the length that allows for using sights with night vision or thermal clip on (inevitably must allow to mount back up iron sights or optoelectronic sight) and side and bottom rails for additional equipment (bipod for example). W orks on 7.62 x 51 mm NATO caliber MSBS designated marksman rifles beag at the turn of 2015 and 2016 when Pol- ish MOD announced analytical phase for the replacement for Sovier SVD Dragunov sniper rifle. What's interesting is that development of the MSBS- 7,62 project is completely funded by FB Radom itself and that means new weapon will never take any con- sequences like it would have in case of financing or co-financing from government, especially during in- troducing it to the MoD inventory and also fully dis- posing it by the producer (including independent im- plementation of any modification to the project) what can be previously seen I the instance of MSBS-5,56 (Grot) rifles. www.fragoutmag.com