Sniper
\nThe traditional definition of a
sniper is an infantry soldier especially skilled in
field craft and marksmanship who stalks and kills selected enemy with a single aimed
rifle shot.
The word originates from the
snipe, a game bird difficult for hunters to sneak up on.
In the last few decades the term 'sniper' has been used rather loosely, especially by the media in association with police precision riflemen, those responsible for assassination, any shooting from all but the shortest range in war and any criminal equipped with a rifle in a civil context. This has rather expanded the general understanding of the meaning of the term. It has also given the term 'sniper' distinctly pejorative connotations. This explains the increasing use of alternative terms, especially for police snipers such as counter-sniper, precision marksman, tactical marksman and precision shooter.
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\nIrish sniper on ground with ghillie suit
Snipers in warfare
\nDifferent countries have different military doctrines about snipers in Military units, settings, and tactics. Generally, a sniper's goal in warfare is to reduce the enemy's ability to fight by carefully striking a very few, high value targets.
Russian and derived military doctrines include squad-level snipers. They do so because sniping capability was lost to ordinary troops when assault rifles (which are optimized for close-in, rapid-fire combat) were adopted.
Russian military doctrine uses snipers for long-distance suppressive fire and targets of opportunity, especially leaders. During World War II Russians found that military organizations find it hard to replace experienced non-commissioned officers and field officers in a war. They also found that the more expensive and delicate sniper rifles could match the cost-effectiveness of a cheaper assault rifle given good personnel selection, training, and adherence to doctrine. Additionally, they found that sniper duties fit women well, since good snipers are patient, careful, deliberate, can avoid hand-to-hand combat, and need higher levels of aerobic conditioning than other troops.
Military snipers including those from the U.S. and U.K. are typically deployed in two man teams consisting of a shooter and spotter; the spotter is usually the more experienced of the two. Typical sniper missions include reconnaissance or scouting and surveillance, anti-sniper, killing enemy commanders, selecting targets of opportunity, and even anti-materiel tasks (destruction of military equipment), which tend to require use of rifles in the larger calibres such as .50 BMG and .338 Lapua. Snipers have of late been increasingly demonstrated as useful by U.S. and U.K. forces in the recent Iraq campaign in a fire support role to cover the movement of infantry, especially in urban areas.
The current record for longest range sniper kill is 2430 m, reportedly accomplished by a Canadian sniper in 2002, during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
Such a shot cannot be taken in haste. By contrast, much of the U.S./Coalition urban sniping in support of operations in Iraq is at much shorter ranges, although, in one notable incident on April 3 2003, a two man team of Royal Marines armed with L96 sniper rifles each killed at a range of about 860m with shots which curved 56ft in the air.
In the Bosnian War, and for much of the Siege of Beirut, the term sniper was used to refer to what were generally ill trained soldiers who terrorised civilians. During the Siege of Sarajevo, the main street of the city became known as "Sniper Alley".
In urban combat against Soviet tank forces, some opposing forces successfully massed groups of three-person teams, each comprising one sniper, another team member with an assault rifle or machine gun, and one with an antitank weapon such as a RPG. These swarms of small units were reported to be quite effective, though they sustained high casualties.
Police snipers
\nPolice forces typically deploy snipers in hostage scenarios. They are trained to shoot only as a last resort, when there is a direct threat to life from a felon. Police snipers typically operate at much shorter ranges than military snipers, generally under 100 metres and sometimes even less than 50 metres.
Police snipers are typically trained to shoot for the cerebellum, a walnut-sized part of the brain. The intent is that with this motor-controlling brain element destroyed, the target "bad guy" will be prevented from initiating an explosive device or pulling a trigger.
Police snipers do not generally attempt to shoot to incapacitate; when they shoot, they shoot to kill, though there have been some notable exceptions with varying success.
In peacetime, police snipers like those of the FBI's Critical Intervention Resources Group (e.g. the Hostage Rescue Team) typically serve longer in the role, receive more training, and get more operational experience than military snipers.
Sniper training
\nGood training is of paramount importance for snipers. A well-trained sniper can compensate for poor equipment. The goal of military sniper training is to train a sniper to a high degree of proficiency in camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation as well as in precision marksmanship under operational conditions.
Snipers are generally volunteers accepted for sniper training on the basis of perceived aptitude by their commanders. Sniper training typically lasts a number of weeks during which the core skills of camouflage, concealment, moving tactically over terrain, observation and rifle shooting under varying conditions are developed and honed. Military snipers may additionally be trained as FACs (Forward air controllers) to direct military air strikes, in artillery target indication and as mortar fire controllers.
Snipers are trained to squeeze the trigger straight back with the ball of their finger, to avoid jerking the gun side-ways. The most accurate position is prone, with a bipod supporting the barrel, and a stock's cheek-piece against the cheek. Sometimes a sling is wrapped around the weak arm to reduce stock movement.
The range to the target is measured or estimated as precisely as conditions permit – there is increasing use of laser rangefinders – and in the case of longer ranges, the bullet drop is estimated from a chart of bullet drop which may be memorised or sometimes is taped to the rifle and the sights are adjusted accordingly. Shooting uphill or downhill can require more adjustment, either by "holding off" by eye, or "dialing in" to the scope. Subtle cues to the rate and direction of crosswinds are interpreted and used to correct the point of aim, along with "leading" to compensate for left or right motion of the target. The anticipated behavior of the target is another component of accurate shot placement.
Sniper equipment
\nSniper rifles
\nHistoric military sniper rifles were simply the standard service rifle of the country in question such as the German Mauser K98, U.S. Springfield M1 Garand (which was fitted with a scope), Soviet Mosin-Nagant and British Lee Enfield No 4. These were simply selected on the basis of being the more accurate specimens amongst those in service and amended with some minor modifications such as the fitting of a scope. They were already equipped with the standard open or 'iron' sights as a back up should the optical sight become damaged.
Modern sniper rifles are built from scratch for the purpose. Features common to most sniper rifles that give them their accuracy include:\n*A free floating barrel. This is a barrel that is attached to the rifle at a single point, only being screwed into the action, not touching the forearm, "front furniture" or sling; this is a key component in making the system more repeatable, since it largely isolates the barrel from effects due to variations in external applied forces.\n*Build quality to a very high manufacturing tolerance.\n*An action that is affixed extremely carefully to the stock. This is known as bedding and also bears upon the resonance and thus repeatability of the system.\n*A barrel of exceptional quality. The barrel may be manufactured by means of a number of techniques but to very close tolerances. Most sniper rifles have heavy barrels because of the heat sink effect of the large mass of steel which slows the rate of heating after firing one or more shots. There is no correlation between barrel length and accuracy, however military sniper rifles tend to have longer barrels of around 300 mm to allow the cartridge propellant to fully burn and thus obtain the best bullet velocity for a given charge. Some Police sniper rifles have notably short barrels as police sniping generally occurs at very short range and the handling premium of a short barrel outweighs squeezing the maximum velocity out of the cartridge.\n*A crisp trigger release. This is a trigger pull that lets off or 'breaks' cleanly without any 'creep', often said to be like snapping a glass rod. Polishing the sears of the trigger contributes to such a crisp release.
Perhaps the three best known sniper rifles in current service globally are the US M21 and M40 used respectively by the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps and the British Accuracy International L96 and AW. The M21 and M24 SWS are precision rifles built based upon the civilian Remington 700 bolt-action rifle, the best selling bolt-action in North America and dating back to 1962. The British L96 / AW was designed by Malcolm Cooper, a British civilian Olympic shootist.
Sniper rifle sights are almost always some form of telescopic sight. The reticle often contains markings over and above the usual crosshairs found in most hunting rifle scopes. These markings are to assist in range estimation by corresponding to standard objects at different ranges; the extra marks assist in compensating or "aiming off" for windage and further marks help in compensating or "holding off" for long range shooting. Sniper rifles scopes rarely have magnification above 11x; the AW in British service has a fixed magnification of 10.5x . Modern sniper rifles designed from scratch as dedicated sniper rifles often forgo installation of open sights, relying entirely on the scope, specifically the U.S M21 and M40, though the British AW is still equipped with back up open sights. Some scopes have relatively low fixed magnification, as low as 3x. Police sniper rifles often have an adjustable zoom scope, as much police work is done at close range and a high magnification scope restricts the field of view.
Some sniper equipment now includes an image intensifying adaptor to allow conversion of the normal scope for night work.
Semi-automatic sniper rifles have been developed but are less common than bolt-action rifles, with the notable exception of the Russian Dragunov in 7.62 x 54 the old Soviet rimmed battle rifle cartridge originally chambered in the Mosin-Nagant. The Dragunov is relatively common in the sphere of influence of the former Eastern Block, the Dragunov in 7.62 x 54 is not really a precision rifle with the accuracy capability in the same league as the M21, M40 or AW. To build a precision semi-automatic rifle is extremely expensive and most sniping doctrine makes the semi-automatic function largely superfluous. Precision semi-automatic sniper rifles do exist though for certain specialist applications.
Many sniper rifles, both police and military come equipped with an adjustable bipod to help in firing from the prone position and in holding a fire position for extended periods. Bipods are a great aid in helping achieve a surgical level of accuracy.
In the last few years there has been the appearance of sniper rifles that fire rounds considerably more powerful than the standard service battle rifle cartridge typified by rounds such as the 7.62 x 51 (7.62 NATO) or 7.62 x 54. These include rifles such as the Barrett M82A1 chambered in the .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) cartridge which generates something like six times the energy of a 7.62 x 51 cartridge. Such rifles are used in the anti-materiel (referred to as hard target interdiction) role and for extreme long range. They are big, cumbersome, very loud and expensive and in many sniping scenarios would be a positive disadvantage, but these big rifles do have their tactical niche. Splitting the difference between the huge .50 BMG and the 7.62 x 51 in the power stakes are the .338 Lapua and .408 Chey-Tac.
Good quality equipment is very helpful, but does not substitute for careful selection of personnel and thorough training. A military sniper from some of the more selective and highly trained formations equipped with a standard hunting rifle would be far more effective than most hunters would be equipped with an expensive precision sniper rifle.
While their use in hunting is controversial (especially in California where legislation has been proposed to outlaw them), organizations such as the FCSA (Fifty-Caliber Shooters Association), military-style sniper rifles, including 50-caliber rifles, advocate their use in sporting conditions -- such as hunting dangerous or thick-skinned game (such as the Cape Buffalo and Grizzly Bear) and long range (2km) shooting competitions. Many of the guns used in such competition, however, are so extensively modified they no longer bear any resemblence to the original. The prime example of this would be a McMillan Bros Remington 700 action on a fiberglass stock with a fluted steel barrel and muzzle brake.
Ammunition
\nMost snipers are issued match-grade military ammunition.
Though target shooters often assemble their own ammunition from components to more precisely control the load and tune it to the specific rifle and task, this is practically unknown in military and police circles.
Camouflage
\nGood camouflage, combined with movement discipline, is what makes snipers so hard to see and resist.
The basic camouflage item of a working sniper is a combination of cover and shelter, usually a poncho or shelter-half, preferably with attachable insulation and internal waterproofing.
The glint of the scope's optics is the only part of a sniper that cannot be camouflaged, but shine can be reduced by using a piece of fabric or a metal mesh over the scope. Snipers should avoid anything that glints or clanks, including glasses and white faces.
Snipers against well-equipped forces must camouflage themselves in Infrared (or IR). They use plastic foil blankets or material with a thin layer of evaporated aluminum to reflect the IR. Originally these were thermal blankets, covered with local foliage or material. The material is taken from at least 300 yards (100 m) away so the sniping position's natural cover is undisturbed.
Tick suit
\nThe best-equipped snipers use a "Tick" suit. This consists of IR-proof material that hangs in folds over the sniper, breaking up the outline on a scope. The outer layers of a tick suit resemble a ghillie suit, camouflaging the sniper in visible light.
Ghillie suit
\nSnipers with extreme requirements for infiltration and camouflage use a ghillie suit, a suit constructed of rough burlap flaps attached to a net poncho. The ghillie suit was originally developed by Scots deer hunters as a portable hunting blind.
A ghillie suit is usually prepared by assembling it, beating it, dragging it behind a car, and then rolling it in cow feces or burying it in mud and then letting it ferment. This makes it very much like wearable humus. As with the foil blankets mentioned above, a ghillie suit that closely matches the actual terrain of the zone of operation will stand out less, so elements of that general environment (local foliage or other matter) may also be included in the netting.
Sniper Tactics
\nAt distances over 300 yds (300 m), snipers usually attempt body shots, aiming at the chest and depending on fluid-dynamic shock (sometimes misnamed "hydrostatic shock") to make the kill. At lesser distances, snipers may attempt head shots to assure the kill.
In instant-death hostage situations, police snipers shoot for the cerebellum, a part of the brain that controls voluntary movement, that lies at the base of the skull. Some wound ballistics and neurological researchers have argued that severing the spinal cord at about the second cervical vertebra is what is actually achieved, usually having the same effect of preventing voluntary motor activity, but the debate on the matter remains largely academic at the present date.
To perform civil pacification, sniper-suppression, and intelligence a sniper or pair of snipers will locate themselves in a high, concealed redoubt. They will use binoculars or a telescope to identify targets, and a radio to provide intelligence.
Since most kills in modern warfare are by crew-served weapons, reconnaissance is one of the most effective uses of snipers. They use their aerobic conditioning, infiltration skills and excellent long-distance observation equipment and tactics to approach and observe the enemy. In this role, their rules of engagement let them engage only high-value targets of opportunity.
A sniper identifies targets by their appearance and behavior. Snipers shoot people who are in high-rank uniforms, or who talk to radiomen, or who sit as passengers in a car, or who have military servants, or who talk and move their position more frequently. If possible, snipers shoot in descending order by rank, or if rank is unavailable, they shoot to disrupt communications.
Snipers use deception, in the form of camouflage, unusual angles of approach, and frequent, often slow movement to prevent accurate counter-attacks. Some snipers are able to shoot an observant target from less than 100 yards (~100 m), while the target is searching for them, without being seen.
In severe civil unrest, snipers may be instructed to kill any person carrying a weapon and not in a friendly uniform.
To perform suppressive fire during an assault, a sniper locates an enemy firing loupe, times the appearance of the enemy, and shoots the enemy through the head over his own sights.
To perform suppressive fire to cover a retreat, a sniper positions himself, hidden, with a view to a large open space. When a pair of enemy squads attempts a crossing, the sniper disables one person, preferably a leader. Most often this is a hip shot, possibly followed by a jaw shot to prevent effective instruction. When the squad attempts a rescue, the sniper uses rapid fire, aiming for the trunks of enemy soldiers to kill as many as possible. A prudent sniper leaves the area at this point, anticipating the flanking attack that normally follows. A brave or desperate sniper may ambush one of the flanks, and if possible, will move outside the flank to do so.
To demoralize enemy troops, snipers can follow predictable patterns. During the Cuban revolutionary war, the 26th of July Movement always killed the foremost man in a group of Batista's soldiers. Realizing this, none of them would walk first, as it was suicide. This effectively decreased the army's willingness to search for rebel bases in the mountains.
With heavy .50 calibre rifles, snipers can shoot turbine disks of parked jet fighters, missile guidance packages, expensive optics, or the bearings, tubes or wave guides of radar sets. Snipers on hill-tops can often shoot down scout helicopters lurking below a ridge-line. Similarly, snipers may shoot locks or hinges instead of using a door-opening charge.
Anti-sniper tactics
\nTo defend against sniper attacks, doctrine and equipment need to prevent observable "leadership" behaviors and signs. Insignia should be low-observable camouflage colors on camouflage, battle-dress identical for all ranks, military servants and rank-based luxuries (like saluting) avoided in forward areas, and commands and instruction should be given in stealthy ways.
Valuable assets should be parked in sand-bagged redoubts until they are launched, a prudent tactic anyway to prevent damage from fragments.
The most effective response to a sniper is a flanking pincer by a pair of squads, through cover, or at least concealment, driving the sniper toward the group containing the targets. This decreases the chances that the sniper will find a stealthy, speedy escape route.
Another effective tactic is to use a sniper to kill a sniper. This often results in a sniper duel. Usually, the most highly trained sniper wins. The duel effectively distracts the sniper from his mission. This usually favors U.S.-style elite sniper forces.
Attitude to snipers
\nGenerally snipers are isolated even from soldiers of their own army by the dislike of the ordinary infantry for this type of combat. During World War II, captured snipers were often shot out-of-hand by their captors.
A commonly held view is that snipers must have a psychopathic or sociopathic personality in order to function efficiently. This view is not shared by military experts as dysfunctional personalities are likely to be unreliable in high-stress combat situations. Most people will also agree that training a mentally ill person into a very highly trained covert killer (as opposed to, say, an accountant) is a bad idea both in peacetime and wartime (the sniper will be out on missions only a percentage of their time in the theater of operations).
Snipers do, however, require a different type of psyche to the average soldier – they must be comfortable being alone for long periods, be very self-reliant, and be comfortable with doing 'cold-blooded' kills – attributes that not every soldier will share.
Snipers outside warfare
\nThe use of sniping as means of murder has been immortalised by a number of sensational U.S murders, including the Austin sniper incident of 1966, the John F. Kennedy assassination, and the Washington sniper serial murders of late 2002. However, these incidents usually do not involve the range or skill of military snipers.
Sniping has also been used by terrorists, for example in the Northern Ireland Troubles, where in the early seventies a number of soldiers were shot by concealed riflemen, some at considerable range. There were also a few instances in the early '90s of British soldiers being shot with .50 calibre Barret rifles.
Sniper versus Sharpshooter or Marksman
\nThe term "sniper" is often used to describe anyone using a scoped rifled to engage targets at a distance. However, a more appropriate term would be "sharpshooter" or "designated marksman". The differences between a sniper and a sharpshooter are significant. First, sharpshooters are often attached at the squad level while snipers are often attached at higher levels such as battalion. While snipers are masters of field craft and camouflage, they are not requirements for sharpshooters. Lastly, a sniper's role is usually more strategic than a squad-level sharpshooter. Snipers often perform valuable reconnaissance and have a psychological impact on the enemy. A sharpshooter mainly exist to extend the reach of the squad he is attached to. As a result of all this, snipers rely almost exclusively on bolt-action rifles while it is entirely appropriate for a sharpshooter to use a faster firing, but more conspicuous semi-automatic rifle. In a sense, a sniper is a sharpshooter who has undergone more intensive training to expand his skills beyond surgical shooting to become a valuable strategic resource.
Snipers in history
\nEven before firearms were available, there have been soldiers, such as archers, specially trained as elite marksmen.
- The first modern snipers were elite riflemen trained to shoot knights for France's Louis XIV. Their gun weighed more than twenty pounds (9 kg), and shot a 1 oz (28 g) lead ball fast enough to kill through plate armor. Some authorities claim that they, alone, made heavy cavalry (knights) obsolete.
- Timothy Murphy was a rifleman in Daniel Morgan's Virginia riflemen in 1777. He shot and killed General Simon Fraser of the British army. Murphy was said to have taken the shot at roughly 500 yards (460 m), astounding at the time. He was using the renowned Kentucky rifle. The death of General Fraser caused the British advance to falter and the rebels to win the battle.
- During the pivotal Battle of Trafalgar, on October 21, 1805, as the British flagship HMS Victory locked masts with the French Redoubtable, a sniper's bullet struck Admiral Horatio Nelson in the spine. Nelson was carried below decks and died as the battle that would make him a legend was ending in favour of the British.
- In the Napoleonic Wars, the British copied colonial weapons and tactics in a limited number of rifle companies. They dressed (unsportingly) in green to avoid visibility, and were instructed to shoot enemy officers. Rifleman Thomas Plunkett of the 1st Battalion, 95th Rifles is remembered for shooting General Colbert at a range of between 200 and 600 metres during the Peninsula war.
- Colonel Hiram Berdan was the commanding officer of the 1st and 2nd US Sharpshooters. Although snipers were held with low regard by both sides during the Civil War, under his tutelage, skilled Union marksmen were trained and equipped with the .52 caliber Sharps Rifle. It has been claimed that Berdan's units were responsible for killing more enemy than any other unit in the Union Army.
- On May 9, 1864 during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Sgt. Grace of the 4th Georgia Infantry, sniped Major General John Sedgwick at the then incredible distance of 800 yards (730 m), with a British Whiteworth target rifle. The death of Sedgwick, a corps commander, caused administrative delays in the Union's attack, leading to Confederate victory. Before Sedgwick was shot, he was advised by his men to take cover, and his last words were "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance". The popular story that he said "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist—" happens to be an urban legend – he finished his sentence and was shot a few minutes later.
- Simo Häyhä (December 17, 1906 – April 1, 2002) of Finland is regarded as the most effective sniper in the history of warfare. Using a relatively primitive Mosin-Nagant Model 28, Häyhä sniped 542 Soviet Union soldiers in Winter War from November 30, 1939 to March 6, 1940, when he was seriously wounded.
- Suko Kolkka was also a Finnish sniper during the Winter War, who sniped approximately 400 Russians, as well as another 200 with a submachinegun. Due to the superb quality of Finnish snipers, the Russians lost men at a rate of 40:1. At the end of the Winter War a Soviet General is said to have bitterly quipped, "We gained 57,000 km² [22,000 square miles] of territory. Just enough to bury our dead."
- Vasily Zaitsev was a Russian sniper who rose to prominence during the Battle of Stalingrad, credited with sniping 242 German soldiers. He became a folk hero for killing the German master sniper instructor Major Thorvald, in an extended sniper-countersniper duel. However, there are debates as to whether Thorvald actually existed, or was the invention of Soviet propaganda writers. Zaitsev was the main subject in the movie Enemy at the Gates, a fictionalized account of sniper-warfare in the Battle of Stalingrad.
- Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock of the United States Marine Corps sniped 93 North Vietnamese soldiers during that war.
- Delta Force snipers Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart were both killed in action during the Battle of Mogadishu. It is estimated that together they sniped over 100 Somalis.
See also
\n*List of assassins\n*
Sniper (movie)\n*
Special forces\n*
Jägers\n*
Lee Boyd Malvo\n*
John Allen Muhammad\n*
Charles Whitman