I must interject here, my very dear FRiend, Major Jim Land, The Father of USMC Sniping and Carlos Hathcock; the founding fathers of modern sniping.
Posted on 06/21/2017 11:01:30 PM PDT by TigerClaws
A sniper with Canada's elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,450 metres.
Sources say a member of Joint Task Force 2 killed an Islamic State insurgent with a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target.
"The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [Islamic State] attack on Iraqi security forces," said a military source, who stressed the operation fell within the strictures of the government's advise and assist mission. "Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far way, the bad guys didn't have a clue what was happening."
The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned.
"Hard data on this. It isn't an opinion. It isn't an approximation. There is a second location with eyes on with all the right equipment to capture exactly what the shot was," another military source said.
A military insider told The Globe: "This is an incredible feat. It is a world record that might never be equalled."
The world record was previously held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who shot a Taliban gunner with a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle from 2,475 metres away in 2009.
Previously, Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong had set the world record in 2002 at 2,430 metres when he gunned down an Afghan insurgent carrying an RPK machine gun during Operation Anaconda.
Weeks before, Canadian Master Cpl. Arron Perry briefly held the world's best sniper record after he fatally shot an insurgent at 2,310 metres during the same operation. Both soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
JTF2 special forces are primarily tasked with counterterrorism, sniper operations and hostage rescue. Much of the information about this elite organization is classified and not commented on by the government. The unit's snipers and members of Canadian Special Operations Regiment, who are carrying out the main task of training Kurdish forces, have been operating in tough conditions in Iraq.
The Trudeau government pulled CF-18 fighter jets out of Iraq in 2016 but expanded the military mission, which will see the number of Canadian special forces trainers climb to 207 from 69 in an assist, train and advise mission. Canadian commandos are not supposed to be involved in direct combat, but are authorized to go up to the front lines on training missions with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and to paint targets for coalition air strikes.
For operational security reasons, sources would not reveal the names of the elite Canadian sniper and his partner, nor the location where the action took place.
A sniper and his observer partner are often sent to remote and dangerous locations to hunt down insurgents while having to carry heavy equipment. Once they have located the target, snipers follow the same methodical approach before each shot. Breathe in, out, in, out, find a natural pause and then squeeze the trigger.
Canada has a reputation among Western military forces for the quality of its snipers, despite the small size of the Canadian Armed Forces compared to the United States and Britain.
"Canada has a world-class sniper system. It is not just a sniper. They work in pairs. There is an observer," a military source said. "This is a skill set that only a very few people have."
The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,450 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training.
"It is at the distance where you have to account not just for the ballistics of the round, which change over time and distance, you have to adjust for wind, and the wind would be swirling," said a source with expertise in training Canadian special forces.
"You have to adjust for him firing from a higher location downward and as the round drops you have to account for that. And from that distance you actually have to account for the curvature of the Earth."
U.S. Sergeant Bryan Kremer has the longest confirmed sniper kill shot by a U.S. soldier. He killed an Iraqi insurgent with his Barrett M82A1 rifle at 2,300 metres in 2004.
Cool.
The pos never saw/heard it coming.
Very impressive. Hopefully, he keeps his name and face unknown, unless this is someone who wants the attention, fame and infamy.
Wow. Talk about hitting the enemy when he least expects it....
Hail to the Princess Pats !!!!
That’s over two miles
I know. Article says they have all the evidence to back it up. That’s quite a jump from the existing record.
I wonder if there’s a military version of this:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/17000-linux-powered-rifle-brings-auto-aim-to-the-real-world/
2.14 miles away. 1000 meters longer than the existing record.
Wondering if it’s a technological advancement that made that happen.
It says he was shot from a high rise building. That would have changed the angle of the bullet path and reduced the amount elevation that he would have had to dial into the scope. I’m sure he lazed the target and then lazed the ground beneath him and then used that to determine his angle and then dialed in the appropriate elevation. I’m guessing he either didn’t have a significant crosswind.
I must interject here, my very dear FRiend, Major Jim Land, The Father of USMC Sniping and Carlos Hathcock; the founding fathers of modern sniping.
Under the misrule of Baby Doc, Canada has pulled less than its weight against ISIS.
One of the first things Truedope did upon taking office was to pull out Canadian bombers.
So it’s good to see that the JTF operators were able to help out.
TAC-50 apparently has a max range of 3750m so even longer shots are possible !
Not to brag, but, as a father of an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, in on March 20, 2003, here’s what I learned of his second job. First job was in a bridging unit - construction, boat-driver, and truck transportation of equipment (750 miles on their first combat run).
As his sergeant said, “The boy likes to shoot” so when my son was qualifying on the M249 SAW (light machine gun), he gave him 6 box clips (250 rounds each) instead of 3 and let him fire at will.
My son qualified as a sharpshooter for targets at 1,000 yards. I’m impressed at 300 feet, not just at 3,000. Anyway, he got several kills of fedeyeen snipers or assault troops who used women and children as human shields. Fired when he could, didn’t fire when he risked hitting the civilians.
THe one he didn’t get, which I have written about before, was a good Iraqi sniper who was in a multistoried abandoned building. He would shoot and then move to another window or even another floor.
My son would try to anticipate where he might pop up next and put a 3 shot burst into that window. Kept missing him but he was getting a feel for how this guy thought.
Unfortunately he never got the bastard as one of our Abrams tanks came by, saw what was happening, and blew up the building with one shot. End of sniper. My son was pissed. That was his target, but everyone was safer, earlier.
I think Hitchcock set the American record in So. Vietnam at over 1,500 yards, or perhaps more. I’m sure it was at least half a mile away. A VC or NVA Colonel or General who stepped out onto the porch of his hut and BLAM, worm-food.
Jungle sniping is a lot different than desert sniping but our guys who do this are outstanding and deserve our total respect, Americans, Canadians, Brits and Aussies.
Has to be, the guy wouldn’t even be in the scope when he pulled the trigger. We are talking dealing with cross winds, elevation, image distortment, gravity and even at that distance earth curvature all while battling diminishing power as the bullet loses steam. This sniper literally made a shot that will be almost impossible to beat.
Very nice.
golux
RHR
Pretty sure the existing record was theirs already....from the Sandbox days.
I talked with a guy at our range who had a tack driving M1-A with a 5x22 NightForce scope. He bought the setup with the idea of learning what went into developing the abilities of a sniper. He is into military history.
He gave a stream of conscience presentation for 5-10 minutes, and ended by saying that as far as he was concerned he was still at the bottom of the learning curve these many months later.
Serious sniping.
There is a passage in one of Eisenhower’s books about taking Cherbourg. It quotes a German commander who said, “We decided to surrender, when the Americans began using their long range artillery as sniper rifles.
In some sniper movie with Mark Wahlburg as the patsy, they had snipers advising them. In an interview one of the advisers was saying how they couldn’t show in the movie what really happens. (In the movie the guy gets shot in the head and some blood flies out the back.)
The adviser said “At those ranges the bullet is going down more than across - it would enter the head but then angle down - the head would be gone, and a big slice going down the torso.” I have no way of knowing whether the guy was telling the truth or not.
I do recall the time I thought I could kill a rabbit with my .308 and still have some food. I figured a “head shot”. The round entered the head - but blew out half the body as it angled through. Learned never to try that again (I was only about 16 - stupid kid!).
Are they going to ask him to shoot Canadians who doesn’t use the correct pronouns?
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