Foreign countries talk about Vietnam's OSV-96 sniper rifle
Foreign military websites are showing great interest in the new generation sniper rifle OSV-96 produced by the Vietnamese defense industry.
According to bmpd, the Z111 Weapons Factory of the General Department of Defense Industry of Vietnam has begun licensed production of the large-caliber sniper rifle OSV-96 (originally called V-94) developed in the mid-1990s in Tula at the Instrument Design Bureau (KBP).
This heavy sniper rifle was first introduced in 1994, after undergoing a few upgrades and minor modifications it was officially rebranded as the OSV-96 in 1996.
Currently, Vietnam is operating a modern infantry gun production line supported by the Israeli IMI Group. Factory Z111 is also the production facility for Galil ACE 31/32 assault rifles to replace the traditional AK-47 in the Vietnam People's Army.
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| OSV-96 sniper rifle made in Vietnam |
According to Defence-blog, the OSV-96 heavy sniper rifle uses 12.7 x 108 mm ammunition, it has an effective range of 1,800 m when fighting infantry or up to 2,500 m when firing at "physical" targets such as tank equipment, radar stations or control centers.
The OSV-96 has a free-standing barrel, a wooden stock and a rubber pad to reduce recoil. It can be folded up for ease of transport and can easily be returned to combat mode with a few simple steps.
The sniper rifle uses a pneumatic mechanism through a traditional rotating bolt. The gun has an overall length of 1,746 mm with a 1,000 mm barrel, and an empty weight without an optical sight of 12.9 kg, acceptable parameters for a large-caliber sniper rifle.
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| The OSV-96 is a very modern large-caliber sniper rifle. |
The production of the OSV-96 sniper rifle shows that the Vietnamese Army is steadily moving towards modernity. In addition to the traditional 7.62 x 54 mm Dragunov SVD, they have put into service the NATO-standard 7.62 x 51 mm Galazt and recently the 12.7 mm OSV-96 sniper rifle.
It is expected that this weapon will be equipped for special operations forces of the Army as well as the Vietnamese Police, initially possibly anti-terrorism units and special forces specializing in deep infiltration.
The success in manufacturing a complex sniper rifle like the OSV-96 with its accompanying sophisticated optical sight shows the outstanding capacity of the Vietnamese defense industry.
