About 20 samples of sniper, anti-material rifles been approved for use in AFU
Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has codified and approved for use in the Armed Forces of Ukraine about 20 samples of sniper and anti-material rifles, a third of them are Ukrainian-made.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, among the foreign-made samples that are in service with the Ukrainian Defense Forces, there are products from well-known arms companies (Cadex Defense, Barrett, Steyr-Mannlicher AG, Česká Zbrojovka, Heckler & Koch) from Canada, the United States, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany and other countries of the world.
Rifles of various calibers are designed both to destroy enemy personnel and to neutralize or critically damage enemy conventional and lightly armored military equipment.
"Among the rifles approved for operation from March 2022 are a large number of Ukrainian models. Among them are anti-material large-caliber rifles capable of penetrating the armor of an armored car with their bullets, as well as single-shot and semi-automatic rifles designed to destroy moving and stationary targets," the ministry said.
The department said the effective firing range of individual samples reaches a distance of up to 2,000 meters.
It is noted that in models from Ukrainian manufacturers, codified in 2024, a number of design solutions were introduced, dictated by experience in the practical use of this type of weapon, which improved their effectiveness.
The Ministry of Defense also recalled that a Ukrainian-made 14.5 mm Alligator rifle was used to destroy a Russian occupier at a distance of 2,710 meters, which became one of the confirmed records of this war.
In addition, among the codified small arms ammunition approved for use from March 2022, there are domestically produced cartridges for the specified rifles. They comply with current NATO standards and are not inferior in their characteristics to the best world standards.