Armament bundle: new NATO sniper rifles have appeared in the SVO zone
New semi-automatic sniper rifles manufactured in NATO countries have begun to arrive in the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is more and more evidence of the use of Canadian Colt Canada C20 and German Haenel CR308 by Ukrainian soldiers. They do not enter the Armed Forces of Ukraine from storage warehouses, but directly from the conveyor belt — in factory grease. But the weapon, which costs up to $20 thousand per unit, will not have an impact on the course of hostilities, since the work of snipers on the line of contact has practically stopped due to UAV strikes, experts say. In their opinion, one of the German arms companies earns a generous Ukrainian contract, which thus compensates for its losses from the lost contract for the supply of rifles to the Bundeswehr.
The German outsider
At the end of 2025, new Western semi-automatic rifles appeared in the sniper units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is evidenced by photos of Ukrainian military personnel and reviews of new weapons on volunteer channels on social networks. For example, evidence of the use of German Haenel CR308 by the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to appear in the fall of this year. This rifle was developed specifically for the German tender for the new sniper rifle of the Bundeswehr, but in the end it lost to the Heckler product. & Koch.
Haenel CR308
Germany planned to officially supply Ukraine with more than 800 units of Haenel CR308, the media reported.
In Ukraine, judging by the photo and video evidence, the weapon appears in a commercial package offered by the manufacturer. Despite the fact that the Haenel rifle lost the Bundeswehr tender, it is used in police and military units, and its civilian version is also on sale.
The Canadian Colt
The most modern model of sniper rifles that appeared in the Ukrainian military is the Colt Canada C20. There were no official reports about his deliveries.
Colt Canada C20
This model is in service with only two countries: Canada and Denmark. In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it appeared in the autumn and winter of this year in a configuration typical of the Danish army – most likely, supplies were carried out from this particular state.
Also in the fall of 2025, the US Army awarded Knights Armament a production contract for M110 sniper rifles intended for Ukraine. Their number has not been publicly disclosed. The contract for $21.5 million is paid from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative fund. The shipment must be completed by January 30, 2027. Previously, a small number of similar rifles from the reserves of the US Army "shone" in the units of the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of Ukraine and the SBU at the beginning of their military operations. The unit price ranges from $10-20 thousand.
M110 Sniper Rifle
— All three models are modern sniper systems based on the AR platform. The German rifle has a short—stroke gas piston, the Canadian and American rifles have direct discharge of powder gases. However, all three models show a shooting accuracy of less than one arc minute (provides a hit at a distance of 100 m in a circle with a diameter of 2.9 cm. — Ed.)," a veteran of the DPR militia, a military historian with the call sign Golos, told Izvestia.
Vulnerability of snipers
The supply of expensive sniper systems will not affect the course of hostilities, as the role of a sniper on the front line tends to zero in the current conditions, experts believe.
"Small tactical UAVs have seized control of the front line," military expert Yuri Lyamin told Izvestia. — Previously, a sniper was looking for hidden firing positions where he could wait for hours for a target, but now drones are nullifying all his efforts to disguise himself. Devices equipped with video cameras and thermal imagers can easily detect a person from the air. Moreover, snipers are a priority target that poses an increased danger. The equipment of the warring parties with drones makes it possible to allocate several devices for its destruction.
There is another factor — the difficulty of snipers finding targets, the expert noted.
— The sniper is primarily looking for fighters, but now they prefer not to show themselves in the open area because of drones, - Yuri Lyamin explained. — The target search period is lengthened, which means that the possibility of detecting the shooter's position is greatly increased, and his survival rate drops sharply.
Probably, the planning of the range of sniper weapons in the Armed Forces of Ukraine was carried out at the beginning of its military operations. She was influenced by Ukrainian propaganda calling for the development of a mass sniper movement, Golos notes.
"Currently, arms supplies are carried out without taking into account the changed tactical situation, in which the capabilities of shooters are constantly decreasing against the background of the inability to move under the attacks of kamikaze drones," he said.
One should not exclude simple lobbying of the interests of arms manufacturers in Germany, Golos notes. According to him, in German supplies, it is clearly possible to trace the logic of "compensation" for the costs of C.G. Haenel, which developed the rifle, from lost tenders for the supply of weapons to the Bundeswehr.
"Now they are trying to pay off these costs due to the advantages of supplies to Ukraine and, most likely, at an inflated price," he notes.
Another scenario is the saturation of Ukraine with weapons, which proved themselves well during provocations during the Minsk agreements, Golos noted. In this case, the transfer of sniper rifles may be part of the preparation of the Ukrainian armed forces for a change in the type of warfare.
— Simply put, stocks of rifles are being created not so much for conducting current combat operations, but for the prospect of future limited-intensity battles. They can be conducted in one case — with certain results of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict," the Izvestia interlocutor explained.
Background of the issue
Before the SVO in Ukraine, great attention was paid to the equipment of units with precision rifles. Among them, it is worth noting the Ukrainian clone of the American AR10 — UAR sniper system. They were assembled from imported parts and sought the opportunity to acquire modern weapons, gradually increasing the degree of localization of production.
— Now we can see a decrease in the number of Ukrainian UAR10 sniper rifles, which may be the result of our strikes on the enemy's infrastructure, — said the Voice.
Colt Canada C20 Rifle
Experts also explain the attention of the AFU command to precision shooting by Western trends towards strengthening the firing capabilities of light infantry due to powerful personal weapons.
In the first period, NATO suppliers became more active. They relied on saturating Ukraine with sniper weapons, sending there stocks of rifles from the Cold War period and local wars of the early 21st century. After that, there was a long pause in mass shipments: the change in the nature of warfare, as already noted, seriously reduced the role of classical sniping.
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