Tehran (IP)- Individual weapons on the battlefields are one of the most important combat equipment, which can increase the fighting power of the infantry forces present on the battlefields along with other elements.

Iran Press/Iran News: Few countries have been able to design and produce powerful and suitable individual weapons. Iran's defense industry has also joined the bloc of these countries for several years and has produced effective and efficient weapons.

This is because, before the Islamic Revolution, Iran's armed forces used to get the individual weapons they needed from countries like US and Germany.

Handguns, commando, tactical, and sniper weapons are among these weapons. But among these weapons, sniper weapons are very important and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have localized them using the experience of sacred defense.

The Ministry of Defense and Support of the Armed Forces and Self-Sufficient Jihad Organizations in the army are responsible for the design, production, and use of these indigenous weapons.

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One of these weapons, sniper rifles is among the most influential elements in the field of ground combat. In addition to inflicting serious damage, sniper rifles can also save the lives of their forces because the user can hide.

At the same time, the development of different types of high-caliber heavy sniper rifles to deal with enemy armored vehicles, tanks, and trenches has received great attention in recent years.

For several years, the need to have a powerful native sniper rifle in the armed forces was strongly felt, and for this reason, experts designed and built a heavy-caliber sniper rifle, which, in addition to the ability to destroy infantry trenches, can also destroy enemy equipment like armored equipment.

Heavy sniper weapons

Anti-armor and heavy caliber weapons are weapons that are used against the enemy's heavy equipment and fortifications, such as tanks, personnel carriers, armored and off-road vehicles, concrete trenches, etc., and are capable of destroying them. Compared to other weapons, these types of weapons have extremely high firepower due to the projectiles equipped with explosives or the weight and high caliber of the projectile.

These types of weapons generally include two groups of anti-armor missiles in guided types such as Tau missiles and non-guided ones such as RPG 7 and anti-armor rifles with a caliber of 12.7 mm and above, as well as types of anti-armor cannons such as 106 m.m cannons. Heavy sniper weapons such as the 14.5 mm Shaher sniper weapon and the 19 mm Arash sniper weapon, which are specially made "against helicopters", are among the military products manufactured by Iran.

According to some sources, Sayyad, Shaher, and Baher sniper weapons were designed and built with inspiration from the Steyr HS50 sniper weapon made in Austria. Three types of new sniper weapons manufactured by Defense Industries will replace the current types, the best of which is the Shaher weapon with a remarkable shooting performance.

An overview

Shaher is the name of a long-range single-shot rifle (anti-material) with a caliber of 114 x 14.5 mm for targeting distant targets, produced by the Self-Sufficiency Research and Jihad Organization of the Army Ground Force, which weighs 22 kg and is 185 cm long.

The speed of the 14.5 mm bullets of this weapon is about 1000 meters per second, and its destructive power is 60% higher compared to the 12.7 mm cartridges that are mainly used in Western weapons.

According to the weight and physical conditions of the Shaher rifle, this weapon needs 3 crew members to carry out effective operations. This weapon has an effective range of 3 km and a useful range of 4 km.

One of the capabilities of this weapon is to engage and destroy all kinds of concrete trenches, armored vehicles, helicopters, and enemy gathering points. "Shaher" sniper weapon was unveiled for the first time in 2011 in the presence of General "Ahmedreza Pordestan", the then commander of the Army Ground Forces.

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Based on the tactical needs of today's Army Ground Forces, this weapon was designed and manufactured completely indigenously and has greatly increased the ability to fight in depth.

Also, this weapon increases the accuracy of hitting and dramatically doubles the effectiveness of destroying targets. Another example of Shaher's weapon called Baher is being produced.

The first type of Shaher weapon is armed with a single bullet. The intended bullet is placed in the barrel from the end of the weapon and after pulling back the barrel, it is guided into the barrel by the shooter by moving the barrel.

Equipping Iranian rangers with this tactical weapon, especially in border units and special rapid reaction force brigades can provide them with fire superiority and high destruction ability.

After proving its strength and capability in ground combat, the Shaher weapon was successfully installed and field tested on the 206 helicopters of the army's Ground Force Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization.

Despite all the positive points of this weapon, it must be said that shooting at long distances is difficult to hit the target due to the effect of the bullet on atmospheric conditions such as air temperature or speed, as well as the effect of gravity. 

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