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A sniper with Canada’s elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.
The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed Thursday that a member of Joint Task Force 2 made the record-breaking shot, killing an Islamic State insurgent during an operation in Iraq within the last month.
[...] The elite sniper was using a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target.
[...] The military source said the JTF2 operation fell within the strictures of the government’s advise and assist mission.
[...] The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned.
[...] The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,540 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training.
Not our typical fare but the physics involved in making that shot are crazy.
Source: The Globe and Mail
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @05:50AM (4 children)
Doesn't it seem likely that the sniper fired his entire magazine?
Not unlike a submarine shooting at a destroyer in a World War II movie, where the captain fires a spread of torpedoes that cover a range of possible locations for the target, in the immediate future, and then takes evasive actions.
This makes the achievement a little less spectacular.
A strong tail wind might have helped, too - as well as a discreet test shot or two at something located at the same distance, but a few hundred feet to one side or the other.
My $0.02.
~childo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @06:13AM
I don't know about modern snipers, but Viet Nam era snipers followed the rule of never fire more than two shots from the same position. The enemy can locate you if you fire too many shots without moving to a different location.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @07:10AM
There's some luck involved but there's a lot of skill involved in making sure that your bullet is going to be close enough for you to get lucky. It's not like golf and "hole in ones", you don't have millions of noobs firing these sort of sniper rifles and hoping for the best. This guy was aiming at someone.
Without the footage it's hard to know how much luck was involved - e.g. did the target change position and move into the bullet's path.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday June 23 2017, @10:10AM (1 child)
> be the daesh guy
> poc (the bullet hitting something nearby)
> gneeeeeoooooooooo (its sound, you hear it right after it hits)
> o look a sniper missed me
> better stand still until he tries again
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday June 23 2017, @10:50AM
Cinderella story
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQTXFJL8lo [youtube.com]
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --