Snipers Sniping & Countering them

[SWJED]

29 October London Daily Telegraph - Iraqi Rebels Learn From U.S. Sniper Guru by Robert Watson.

Iraqi insurgents have formed a special sniper brigade which is drawing its inspiration from a US training manual by one of America's most revered snipers.

A new insurgent propaganda video shows how guerrillas have dramatically upped their kill rate of US soldiers with the help of The Ultimate Sniper, written by a retired US Marines major, John Plaster.

The tactics they have gleaned from the book, which is available on the internet along with an accompanying DVD, are thought to be behind a steep rise in the level of sniper fire on US troops in recent months.

A total of 36 such attacks have been recorded by the US military in Baghdad alone this month, of which at least eight are believed to have been fatal. In January, by contrast, sniper fire incidents were barely above single figures, and deaths relatively rare.

The video is thought to have been made by the Islamic Army of Iraq, whose followers are drawn largely from the 400,000 former Iraqi army soldiers who were dismissed by the US...

[bismark17]

Major Plaster was in the Army not the Marine Corps and when he was in MACV/SOG he was in a SF slot. This article seems like a propaganda piece to me.

[SWJED]

Major Plaster was in the Army not the Marine Corps and when he was in MACV/SOG he was in a SF slot. This article seems like a propaganda piece to me.

Here is his Ultimate Sniper web page.

[SWJED]

29 October Reuters - U.S. Military Probes Sniper Threat in Baghdad by Paul Holmes.

The U.S. military has begun looking more closely at shooting attacks on troops in Iraq to establish whether they are carried out by snipers, according to a spokesman.

The change reflects concern over an insurgent video-CD that appears to show a series of shooting attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad by a purported sniper brigade from the Sunni militant Islamic Army.

The video, which Reuters has seen, was handed out in Sunni parts of western Baghdad last week as a "gift" to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. It shows 28 separate attacks, several of them involving precision shots to the head.

Narrated by a man described as the brigade "commander" and subtitled in English, it claims the marksmen use a training manual written by a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer.

"Ultimate Sniper," written in 1993 by Major John L. Plaster, is freely available through online bookstores. It was updated this year "for today's Global War on Terror," according to www.ultimatesniper.com, which calls it the bible of sniping...

[aktarian]

Makes sense. Urban terrain is perfect for snipers. They are small so they can hide, buildings give them lots of oportunities for positions....

It is right to learn, even from the enemy - Ovid

[Rob Thornton]

The IA have rolled up a few of these guys here. When you catch them they do not look like Tom Berringer. Some are pretty good, or at least claim to be. Most of their equipment is a modified SVD. The Iraqi Islamic Army is real, they are a learning enemy, and moderately tactically and technically proficient - they can improvise. There numbers are not as great as they imply either, but they can mass a reasonable ammount of guys. However, the IA are better equipped, receiving better traning, and in most cases they are better led; and they are gettng better all the time - at least from my perch. The AIF (Anti-Iraq Forces) are also fairly good at IO, but the results are far less then the claims, but like the sniper, even the myth has an influence. If the press would do a little analysis they might figure out that they'd been made an instrument of an AIF IO campaign, but the proper place for a horse is behind the cart isn't it?

[Bill Moore]

John Plaster is a true American hero who has walked his talk and then some. If you haven't read his book SOG, I highly recommend it simply for inspiration. The exploits of these men read like fiction, but they're not. I'm not arguing they were strategically important in the long run, that is open to debate. I have no doubt that John is seriously disappointed that the terrorists/ insurgents are using his book; however, if you looked at the number of books on Paladin press that could be, and are, used my terrorists, anarchists, etc., it is somewhat alarming. I don't think there is any feasible way to prevent this spread of technical and tactical knowledge, it is simply an aspect of our environment we have to be aware of. Our enemy will learn and improve over time, and he can learn from us through many different venues to include books like John's on sniping and assorted others, or unclassified military texts, various history books, various movies/documentaries, hot washes after fighting us, sharing experiences and TTP on the web, etc.....

I doubt there is an effective method to disrupt this type of learning, but there are methods for poisoning the well.

[selil]

.... if you looked at the number of books on Paladin press that could be, and are, used my terrorists, anarchists, etc., it is somewhat alarming. I don't think there is any feasible way to prevent this spread of technical and tactical knowledge, it is simply an aspect of our environment we have to be aware of. ...

There is nothing that effects the evolution and acquisition of knowledge more than the predator to prey relationship --- me

[Rob Thornton]

There was a study (I think RAND did it) on the exponential increase of knowledge. The gist was that becasuse of new knowledge sharing technologies and techniques, knowledge could be modified and exploited to make new information at exponential rates as never before. The study offered up an almost unfathomable estimate of how much knowledge had been added between the years of 2000 & 2005. Of course the internet as mentioned, has taken on a life of its own. It is the multi-billion headed hydra with outlets all over. The questions are how to use it to maximimum advantage, and how will the enemy attempt to use it to his? Max Boot did an interesting piece on the Information Revolution in Sunday's Early Bird.

[SWJED]

17 November Washington Times - Inside the Ring:

Military officials often say the insurgents in Iraq are a "learning enemy" — able to adapt to tactics and defenses used by U.S. and allied troops.

As defenses against improvised explosive devices improve, insurgents are turning to sniper attacks.

One technique they apparently learned from the United States is the method used by murderers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, who terrorized the Washington, D.C., area in 2002. Muhammad and Malvo killed 10 persons and wounded several others by firing rifle shots through a hole in the trunk of their 1990 Chevrolet Caprice.

Now the insurgents in Baghdad are using the same technique. Military officials recently discovered 40 vehicles modified for sniper attacks. The vehicles had holes drilled through the sockets for two taillight bulbs. "One hole was for the scope and one was for the barrel," a defense official tells us, who noted that they appear to have picked up the technique from the D.C. snipers...

[Culpeper]

40 vehicles? That's a lot of vehicles. Nevertheless, and a little off subject, but I have heard that some snipers in-country have exceeded Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin's record. The combination of a .308 and .50 sniper nest is very effective against insurgents, whom actually provide easy targets. Insurgents that are planners aren't dumb I can see them adapting and returning fire in the same genre. I also suspect that snipers are nothing new to the insurgency since many are ex soldiers of the old Iraqi Army as well as trained mercenaries from countries such as Syria. The enemy has been using snipers all along. Another deal is that we have plenty of armorned vehicles with sharpshooters. Something, no doubt, the insurgents have suffered great loss from and counter adapted with added stealth to live another day and do it again.

[Jedburgh]

On the BCKS COIN forum (AKO log-in required), there has been a brief unclass/FOUO discussion of Countersniper TTPs, with some POCs and an available download of the AWG Countersniper GTA.

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus, 14 Feb 07:

Baghdad Sniper Gains Legendary Status

....sniper attacks have encouraged jihadis to train and participate in the insurgency. The new terrorism drive is obvious from jihadi forum postings on the subject, such as the posting entitled "How to Become a Sniper" (http://harp.jconserv.net, December 22, 2006).

In "How to Become a Sniper," jihadi forum contributors discuss the importance of sniper attacks, camouflage, casing the target, cover and concealment techniques, target approach and proper breathing while executing the shot. The training also covers different sniper positions, rifle support methods and rifle tripods. One interesting point in the training that correlates with the sniper video is the instructions to work in groups in target reconnaissance. Close scrutiny of the videos reveals that some attacks are videotaped by a separate camera and not by the rifle mounted lens....

[kaur]

www.stratfor.com has written following story, but I'm still wondering what are they doing with those rifles in urban environment (at least 2 man for transportation or mobile platform, huge shot signature etc). I do understand Al Qaeda who got Barrets for Afganistan mountainous terrain. In Iraqi hostile environment (Coalition's ROE, firepower etc) those .50 would have even shorter tactical life span that IRA's Barrets. This kind of Iranian sponsoring reminds what Soviet did for Palestinians, teaching unappropriate tactics.

Iraq: Ominous Signs of a Looming Sniper Threat
Feb 14, 2007

Summary

In a series of raids across Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized more than 100 Austrian-manufactured sniper rifles in a 24-hour period Feb. 12-13. The .50-caliber weapons, which were legally exported to Iran in 2006, represent a grave danger to coalition troops......

My additions.

Here is photo about IRA's position from "Bandit Country."
http://www.image-upload.net/files/2451/IRA.jpg

Here is photo about Washington sniper.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/2451/POSITS%7E1.JPG

[wierdbeard]

If there were only a particluar number of .50 cal rifles purchased, wouldn't it be a rational reason to expect that wherever the rifles orginated within Iran, (I would surmise that its either VEVAK or Qods) they are supporting the operation with training for the snipers, if so how would the trainees be chosen, how long and where is the training taking place. at what rate are they producing snipers? From a logistics point of view it would be easier to have the rifles already in country than to have the sniper smuggle it themselves.