The US military’s newest sniper rifle of choice appears to be the Barrett Multi-Role Adaptive Design (MRAD) bolt-action rifle, a weapon in which the Army, Marines, and special operators have all expressed interest, citing budget Pentagon’s documents. The weapon is expected to replace the Army’s M2010 and M107 sniper rifles.
Rather than snipers to choose between weapons capable of firing different rounds for different purposes, the multi-caliber rifle can be chambered in 7.62X51 mm NATO, .300 Norma Magnum, and .338 Norma Magnum.
The Army, as part of its Precision Sniper Rifle program, and the Marine Corps, as part of the Advanced Sniper Rifle program, requested a total of 786 MRAD rifles for about $14 million in their latest budget requests.
The MRAD rifle these services want is the same weapon that US Special Operations Command awarded Barrett a nearly $50 million contract for in March of last year.
In its fiscal year 2021 budget request, the Army asked for 536 MRAD sniper rifles for a little over $10 million for the Precision Sniper Rifle (PSR) program. The Marine Corps, which is also buying MRAD rifles for the Advanced Sniper Rifle (ASR) program, estimated that each one would cost about $16,000.
US military snipers in the Army, Marines, and the special operations community are getting new bolt-action sniper rifles, and they all want a certain one from Barrett.
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