Ukraine's official military media Army TV has released the first video in the new series about various specialists in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their equipment. Starring in the episode is a sniper from the Special Operations Forces (SOF), call sign Kraken.
Among the personal protection equipment and devices he showcased in the video, particularly interesting is the combination of the US-made Barrett MRAD sniper rifle and the ARCHER TSA-series thermal imaging sight.
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The Barrett MRAD barely needs any introduction. It is well-known to Ukrainian special forces and, despite sanctions, to russian forces, too. This bolt action rifle is popular among marksmen and military, it's used in the U.S. Armed Forces as well. The Ukrainian sniper uses the variety with standard .338 caliber barrel, 660 mm long. The overall length is roughly 1.2 meters, or 4.1 feet, the stock can fold to the side. The weight without accessories is 6.6 kilograms.
Kraken says his most comfortable operating distance is 1,000 meters from the target, although some sources like the Task & Purpose magazine say the rifle's effective range is up to 1,460 m.
Long-range shots are facilitated by the Archer TSA thermal imaging system. There are two variants, the basic TSA-7 and the TSA-9, more on the high-end side. The one the soldier describes looks closer to the TSA-7. It is integrated with a ballistic calculator and environmental sensors to check air humidity and pressure.
Once those parameters are in check, the sniper then turns on the in-built laser rangefinder to measure the distance to the target. The data is sent into the ballistic calculator, and he's almost good to go and pull the trigger.
The only piece of information missing is the wind measurements. For that purpose, he has a Kestrel 5700 portable weather meter that measures and logs in primary environmental conditions, including wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, heat index, pressure, and altitude. It also features its own ballistic calculator.
There are also other optic systems Kraken uses on his missions. Bushnell Elite Tactical 8-40x60 FDE spotting scope helps him to observe the targets during the day, although the design allows to mount it onto the rifle as well. He did not specify if he uses the scope for shooting as well. There's also Leupold Mark 6 1-6x20 for short-range shots, mostly for his automatic assault rifle.
Kraken also showed the Safran JIM COMPACT infrared binocular which is intended not for him but for his duo partner, the spotter. The binocular allows the spotter to see the bullet mid-flight, and his job is to adjust fire for the sniper.
The results can be seen in the videos officially published by the SOF Command.
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