I thought this forum was a place to discuss OOB and equipment?
I think it’s a shame that by bringing up OOB and equipment, and introducing new info. on future equipment, you assume I am trying to be “annoying” and “open a debate” on a topic that’s been “argued to death”!!!
Personally, I was looking forward to polite, respectful exchange of info. ideas and possibilities; and to learn. It seems I was mistaken about the purpose of this forum.
For those who are interested, one of the many lessons of the Falklands War, was that the British Army realized it needed a longer range sniper rifle. The Argentineans had purchased foreign sniper rifles that had a longer range than the British weapons. That led to a contract with Accuracy International who provided the L96A1.
You can ask 40 people, and just about all of them will agree that its effective range is 900M. This may only be a slight improvement of 150M or so, but as most of us know, this can give you a tactical advantage in many situations.
The introduction of the L118A1 is less clear, perhaps because - as with many weapons – it was first used by special forces – and then made its way into the regular army. Its effectiveness is also clouded by the different ammo that’s been used.
The best info I have, is that it was first used in 1997 and I’ve seen a photo of it being used in 2001. Even the current MoD site lists it as regular British Army kit with a conservative range of 1100M.
http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/pw/pw_sr.htm
In light of this I think it’s a shame that in MBT the British sniper will go from a WWII range of 750M to a 2008 range of 1500M; skipping the two improvements of 900M in the 1980’s and 1100M in the 1990’s.