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 the bmpd website, 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 minor upgrades and 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 easy portability and can be easily 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 barrel length of 1,000 mm, 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 Vietnam Police, in the immediate future it may be anti-terrorism units and special forces specializing in deep infiltration.
The success in manufacturing a complex sniper rifle like the OSV-96 and its accompanying sophisticated optical sight shows the outstanding capacity of the Vietnamese defense industry.
