Polish Army Acquires Sniper Rifles And “Increased Power Ammunition”

Within the framework of the procedure, which is being carried out in line with the Public Procurement Act, the Ministry of Defence is willing to acquire 150 repeating .338-cal. sniper rifles. The rifles to be procured are required to feature a daytime rifle scope, along with a thermal vision and night vision devices, both of which would be mounted in front of the primary sight.

The Polish Army is also willing to acquire 50 thousand rounds of the .338 Lapua Magnum ammunition. The prospective rifle should make it possible to neutralize the infantry, and the targets equipped with ballistic protection devices, at distances of up to 1200 meters. Secondly, the rifle should also be capable of being used against lightly armoured military equipment at distances of up to 1200 meters, with the use of proper ammunition, designed to be fit for that purpose.

According to the requirements issued by the Armament Inspectorate, the “increased power” .338 ammunition should make it possible for the shooter to neutralize the infantry at distances of up to 1.5 kilometers. The said ammunition should also be capable of neutralizing the lightly armoured targets at distances of 1200 meters, and finally, the rounds should make it possible for the shooter to shoot groups of hits contained in a 90 mm diameter circle, at distances of 300 meters.

According to the data provided by the Armament Inspectorate, the sight should enable the shooter to detect a standing-human-sized targets at distances of 2 kilometers, solely with the use of the optical sight, 1.5 kilometers, with the use of the additional thermal-vision system, and 1.2 kilometers, with the use of the scope complemented with the night-vision device. When it comes to recognition of the said target, the distances are respectively, as follows: 1.5, 0.5, 0.5 km; when it comes to confident identification, the distances are defined as: 1.2, 0.25 and 0.2 km. The sight should enable the user to operate in a variety of weather conditions, at night and during the day.

The offers may be submitted by the contractors whose headquarters or home address is located within the territory of one of the EU member states, within the European Economic Area, or in a state, with which the EU (or Poland) has signed an agreement on cooperation, within the scope of the orders related to defence and security.

The offers are going to be assessed on the basis of the following criteria: price (weight of 55%), technical and operational parameters of the rifle (weight of 15%), technical parameters of the night-vision device (weight of 15%) and technical parameters of the thermal-vision device (weight of 15%). Final request placing deadline, related to the requests for being included in the proceedings, expires on 5th November 2015. According to the assumptions made by the Armament Inspectorate, the deliveries should be realized until 29th September 2017.