The Indian Army has begun the process of inducting newly acquired sniper rifles at the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir, along with other modern equipment aimed at counter-terrorism functions, reports The Week.

The new sniper rifles will replace the Army’s ageing Dragunov SVD guns, which go back to the Soviet era. The weapons were procured by the Army’s Northern Command after floating tenders for 5,719 weapons under its Commander-in-Chief’s special financial power. The vendors supplying the arms are global manufacturers.

"We have been able to commence the induction of the new sniper rifles (along LoC with Pakistan) and some more are still in the pipeline", General Officer Commanding in Chief (GoC-in-C), Lt Gen Ranbir Singh stated.

Singh explained that some of the arms had already been delivered while others will be received in some time. He added that other equipment meant to enhance the Army’s counter-terror abilities was also being inducted.

The weapons being supplied to soldiers are the .338 Lapua Magnum Scorpio TGT, and the .50 Calibre M95 by Barrett. The Barrett M95 is produced in the US and is an anti-material rifle which means it can penetrate even concrete or metal. It also has a range of 1,800 metres.

The .338 Lapua Magnum Scorpio TGT is manufactured by Italian company Beretta and is fired with a rimless, bottlenecked cartridge.