Snipers in Pakistan Army

by Owais Ehsan on February 26, 2009

Sniper Rifles are a necessity for any modern day army. Some defence analysts argue that WWII was won by the snipers for the Allies, originating from the Historic city of Stalingrad (Movie: Enemy at the Gates). Snipers are Morale Slayers, as they are not easily detected and often shoots from Far distances. They are often categorized as part of the Psychological Warfare.

SNIPER Definition:

A sniper is usually a highly trained marksman that shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles.

TRAINING OF PAKISTANI SNIPERS :

By Blain2 (Pakistan Defence Forum)

Pakistan Army does have a specialized sniper school. Its in Quetta and is run under the auspices of the School of Infantry and Tactics, Pakistan Army. The course requires trainees to have been in the Army for at least 2 years or so and is about a month long.

I have mentioned this in the past as well, typically Snipers in the Pakistan Army are NCOs/JCOs and a very few officers (to train other ORs). Usually in the field, Army officers are not employed as snipers.The primary “specialized” sniper rifle in the Pakistan Army is Steyr SSG 69 (7.62 mm). However scoped G-3s are also used.SSG also uses the same sniper rifle as the regular Army and the case for snipers is the same as in regular army (JCOs etc. are trained and used in this role).

Barret Light .50 is essentially an AMR. It does not have the same type of accuracy as SSG 69 (and the purpose behind the two is different as well). I can’t say with a guarantee if Barret is in use with the SSG. It was primarily inducted in the ANF to counter the drug traffickers and their cargo. I have also seen the Light Fifty on display with Army troops so not exactly sure of the status.

RIFLES USED BY PAKISTAN SNIPERS:

As per WIKI Pakistan Army is equipped with the following sniper rifles;

  • M82 Barrett rifle (US Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle .50 BMG)

  • Steyr SSG-4 and SSG-P2, SSG 69 sniper rifles

  • G3 Sniper

  • RPA “Rangemaster” .50 large caliber sniper rifle (Great Britain)

Dragunov (Russian):

Some remarks about the use of Snipers in Pakistan Army (Pakistan Defence Forum):

Since SSG requires more precision and accuracy and failure is NOT an option they use the M82-A1A sniper rifle which is Anti-Armour, has 2+miles range and is 50 cal.

The regular army snipers use the locally manufactured G-3 which isn’t that great.

There are only a few hundred M82-A1A sniper rifles in use as of now which, when we talk about enhancements and improvements of the Pakistani forces, should be made the standard. The G-3 should be done away with and the M82-A1A given to snipers working with the regular army units.

As for the SSG snipers, I think its about time they got an upgrade for their weapons. Pakistan should use its good relations with the US and buy M87-ELR sniper rifles that are currently in use by the American forces. They are just amazing, in that they are highly accurate (ofcourse the level of accuracy also depends on the sniper himself and his observer) and less prone to jamming.

Pro-pakistan recommends ‘Pakistan Defence Forum’ as the primary source of Defence Information.

Operation Rahe-Rast Pictures (Swat Operation)

Pictures Of Snipers: Photo Courtesy Defence.Pk

Defence Production

Related Articles

{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Valentine Aaqil Mahmood 02.26.09 at 3:33 pm

I was thinking about too :)

Musharaf was good he knows about weapons and was intelligent president was doing all fine.

2 MSK 02.26.09 at 4:33 pm

I think in this specialty Indian army has an edge over Pak army as Styer is categorized as Police Sniper Rifle where as Indians has Draganov which has more range and an excellent Military Sniper Rifle. To overcome the diff, i heard that Pak Army has inducted a good number of .50 AMR sniper rifles(in addition to Barrt .50).Moreover,SSG does not follow a standard pattern of weapons therefore one can expect to see almost every kind of rifle in there.( Source :A friend)

3 Chris Hayes 02.26.09 at 7:27 pm

The M82 .50’s aren’t anti personel weapons though, they are intended to hit higher value targets (after all they are AMR’s!), hence the article above recomending the SSG standardise on a different smaller .50 weapon. Even then there is an arguement on cost, the dragnov and its ammo are are awful lot cheaper, so you then look at funding and expected environments (the worlds longest ranged sniper rifle ain’t much use in a forest and of limited use in a city).

4 Lt. General Ayub Khan 02.27.09 at 4:00 pm

you wont find this info on the news, but Army has recently acquired a very high tech sniper training simulator from Republic of Turkey.

It uses a very powerful supercomputer and is basically a 100% real life simulator. I believe we have 4-5 of these machines..

Our sniper division is very well trained –rest assured….and for the record we are making NATO standard Sniper Rifles @ Pakistan Ordinance Factory –produced under license of H&K company …. 7.65 mm NATO standard high velocity rounds..

enough to knock out the bad guys =D

5 MSK 02.27.09 at 9:50 pm

@ Lt Gen Ayub Khan.
good information shared…

6 Owais Ehsan 03.01.09 at 6:54 pm

@Gen Ayub

Can you provide more details as to which sniping simulator Pakistan have bought from Turkey , so that i can upload it in the blog.

7 MBR 03.24.09 at 4:56 pm

PAKISTAN ARMY SIMPLY THE BEST

PAKISTAN ARMY IS BETTER EQUIPED THAN MOST OF DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

WE PAKISTANI NATION PROUD OF OUR ARMY

8 MUBEEN 03.24.09 at 5:02 pm

PAK ARMY USES G3 GUNS AND INDIAN ARMY USES INSAS GUNS

WE PAKISTANI NATION PROUD OF OUR ARMY

9 MUBEEN 03.24.09 at 5:05 pm

PAKISTAN ARMY SIMPLY THE BEST
WE PAKISTANI NATION PROUD OF OUR ARMY
AND INSHAHALLAH WE WILL SUPPORT OUR ARMED FORCES AS WELL AS WE CAN.IN EVERY ASPECT.

10 Lt. General Ayub Khan 03.27.09 at 7:42 am

Owais –the deal has been finalized.

Expect to see the news in the next 5 months (regarding sniper simulator)

11 Pro Pakistani 04.04.09 at 7:35 pm

Gen Ayub.
Its a good development…would surely update it.

12 Tariq 05.13.09 at 4:30 am

Hey
Pakistan Army is the only disciplined institution in pakistan and when a country spends like 80% of its resources on one institute its bound to be good. So no doubt Pak Army is the best.

Here I wanna mention one more thing. Even though pakistan Army is ranked 7th in the world, the reality is our guys are hardcore army men. We have been the best in humanatarian works throughout the world. We have been the most friendly allies of NATO in Palestine. People in Palestine and Bosnia Juz love Paki Army. So on papers we might be 7th or wutever ranked but I can assure that we are really the best becoz of the political wing and the extra responsibility or running the country.
Literally pakistan army is running the country since its birth becoz of the garbage collection of dirty politicians we have. So Pakistan army is very mature and tough and in face on a challenge I dun see any other army better then pakistan army.

With all these difficulties and totally no supportive political leadership Army is still holding up the country which is an exceptional job. But here we cant ignore the “Ass holes” of Paki army too….People like Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, General Zia(Devil himself) and General Mushy……These few have been the black sheeps of the army.

Rest Assured, Army has all the support of the public and they are our heroes….We salute our Amry …Truly #1…..for it doesnt matter what kinda weapons u have……what matters is what kinda attitude u have in fronta challenges….

India can have all the best rifles and tanks and jet fighters …..reality is pakistan Army men can stop the biggest attack of tanks by diving under those tanks with bombs attatched to their chests…..Its still the most heroic effort made by any army to stop the aggression of the enemy whose might was of no match to pakistan army……India came to wagah border with 330 tanks….and pakistan had juz

13 Taimur 06.02.09 at 10:51 am

AoA,

Well i would like to add in this informative discussion, that PA has also inducted the British Range Master .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle. Its a new weapon and very little information is available on net. But i have seen it in use in PA as one of my dear one is in the PA and their unit received them recently.

14 Dr Khan Aslam 06.13.09 at 2:50 pm

A Sniper Brigade (if not a Div) is required to be raised in Pakistan Army. Our mil higher officials know very well from the history of WWII that there were Snipers Divs which played a crucial role in defeating the enemy. AND IT IS MY HUMBLE REQUEST TO PLEASE INDUCT MAXMUM NO OF OFFRS IN SNIPER FMNS AND PLEASE DON’T CURB THEIR INITIATIVE . THE ONLY AND ONLY THING WHICH MAKES OUR ARMY PRONE TO BE TARGETED AND VICTIM OF LOSS , IS “CURBING OF INITIATIVE” BY SNR OFFRS. ANY THING HAPPENS AT THE NICK OF THE HOUR SHOULD NEVER BE ASKED ON COMM SET FROM HIGHER COMD, JUST ACT THEN AND THERE AND HUNT DOWN THE ENEMY.

15 Dr Khan Aslam 06.13.09 at 2:54 pm

LONG LIVE PAK ARMY . MILLIONS OF SALUTES TO THE MARTYRS AND SLDRS FIGHTING THE BASTARD INDIAN-SIKH TALIBANS !!!!!!!! BUCK UP SSG . CUT THEIR NECKS ! SSG ZINDABAD

16 Raza Muhammad 06.27.09 at 8:33 am

I LOVE MY ARMY .I LOVE MY PAKISTAN.I WANT TO BE COME AN SSG COMANDOW .PAKISTAN ZINDABAD

17 khushdil 07.18.09 at 12:44 pm

IT IS GOOD FOR PAKISTAN ARMY AND I LOVE PAKISTAN ARMY {PAKISTAN ARMY ZINDABAD

18 ASAD SHAH 07.25.09 at 10:24 am

PAKISTAN ARMY ZINDABAAD
DNYA HMARE QADAM CHOME GE
HUM ZINDA QOAM HA

19 abdul rahim 09.06.09 at 10:10 am

aoa.
i like pakistan army.i love r solders.
i like to be one of u.
salooot to all of r solders.

20 dada asad 09.24.09 at 4:52 am

sir mujhay bhei army main aana hai please sir contect me

21 faizan ali 09.30.09 at 4:50 pm

frients i have a request to all of you and its that plz told to every one that pray and sapport our army and air force which are frighting for us in operation rah e rast (swat)
and i apreciate all of my brother which are wanted to join pakistan army.
Allah ho akbar
Pakistan zindabad
and in the end ya Ali madad

22 Qasim 10.04.09 at 12:27 pm

Pak army Is a proude of Pakistan

Geo Pak Army

23 Usman 10.12.09 at 8:52 am

Salute to Pakistan Army. “Get the enemies by their nose and hit them in their ass”, and they are doing it pretty well.

24 Roshan 10.27.09 at 9:24 pm

…well so wat did u achieve after building such ARMY??? Poverty n nothing else. As Mr Tariq said in his comment that pakistani armymen can blast indian tanks by becoming suicide bombers ..but why dont you think about the family members who get left behind??
Well ..in this case the pakistani armymen died..but they didnt die for defending ..but in their effort of attacking for no reason. What did they achieve ??? just loss of many lives… both pakistanis and indians …weeping children n wives ….did u get anything else. Get matured. Purpose of ARMY is to defend.

25 Shoaib shah 11.04.09 at 4:58 am

i have alot of craze about sniping and know alot about sniping since em good sniper and i wanna join pak army.

26 UK Pakistani 11.28.09 at 1:00 pm

PAKISTAN IS THE BEST!! V SUPPORT AND LOVE PAKISTAN! EVERY PAKISTANI IN THE WORLD IS UNITED AND FEELS THE PAIN AND HAPPINESS OF PAKISTAN. INSHALLAH ONE DAY V WILL HAVE OUR KASHMIR BACK, V WILL HELP THE STATE OF PALASTIN FROM THE ISRAILIZ/ZIONESTS AND WE WILL TAKE ON ALL [sectarian comments deleted] WILL RULE THE WORLD AT THE END ALONG WID IMAM MEHNDI AND HAZARAT ISA AND PAKISTAN IS IN THE FRONT LINE OF THIS FIGHT. PAKISTAN & ISLAM/UMMAH ZINDABAD.

27 adnan 12.06.09 at 6:35 pm

Pak army is the 6th powerfull army in the world .But the pakistani soldiers are number 1 which they can do any thing for their nation.LONG LIVE PAKISTAN.

28 a soldier 01.14.10 at 9:46 pm

rite at thes moment just hvin a glance at the cmnts offered by ma dear n near countrymen made me a real powerful and blessed soldier just givin the dirty guys a hard blow,n sittig rite in their so called den…….. v lov u all 4 ur support n love……GOD BLESS U ALL N PAKISTAN……tata

29 M Junaid Khan 01.15.10 at 5:22 am

@Solider! You fight the war out there for us and we will fight the war out here for you! We will make sure the psyche warfare is not lost by our Pakistani nation.
God Bless Islam and God Bless Pakistan

30 MUBARAK. N. KAHN 01.22.10 at 4:41 am

PAK ARMY THE BEST

31 WAQAR AHMAD 02.03.10 at 8:45 am

I WANT TO BECOME A SNIPER IN PAKISTAN.TILL I M STUDENT OF 2ND YEAR AND MY CONTACT IS 03367720325

32 Mirza Parachinary 03.03.10 at 2:51 pm

You should also include PSR-90 Sniper Rifle, under production at Pakistan Ordnance Factory. It meets all NATO standards, I believe we sent some to Sri Lanka during their anti-LTTE offensive.

Turkish defence company HAVELSAN was contracted to induct 5 Artillery Forward Observer Training Simulator units to Pakistan Army. These include sniper simulator softwares, specifically designed to foster to the geography of this region.

Long live Pakistan Armed Forces
Pakistan Zindabad

-Mirza
Parachinar, Kurram Agency, FATA

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>