On Wednesday, the Department of Military Industry of the Yemeni Army (loyal to the Houthis-Saleh alliance) revealed 7 domestically-made sniper rifles. The Department of Military Industry claimed that the rifles are locally made in Yemen.
However, this is a questionable statement. After a close look on the sniper rifles (Saarem, Khatif, Ashtar, Hasem, Zullfqar-1, Zullfqar-2, Kassem and Sarmad) it’s possible to see that:
A Saarem sniper rifle, 8mm caliber with a range up to 1600 m. The Saarem is an upgraded Yugoslavian Zastava M48 with a 7.92×57mm Mauser caliber and a range of 800 meters tops.
A Khatif sniper rifle, 12.7mm caliber with a range of 1500 m. This rifle is likely based on the soviet NSV machine gun.
An Ashtar anti-material sniper rifle, 14.5mm caliber with a range of 3000 m. The rifle is based on the Soviet ZPU machine gun.
A Hasem anti-material sniper rifle, 20mm caliber with a range of 2500 m. The sniper is based on the US-made M167 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS).
The Zullfqar 1 and Zullfqar 2 anti-armor sniper rifles, 23mm caliber. The Zulfqar-1 has a range of 2000meteres, and the Zulfqar-2 has a range of 4000 m. The both rifles are allegedly based on the Soviet GSh-23 autocannon.
A Kassem anti-armor sniper rifle, 30mm caliber with a range of 5000 m. The rifle is based on the Soviet GSh-301 autocannon.
A Sarmad sniper rifle is just another name for the US-made Barrett M82 sniper rifle, 12.7mm caliber with a range of 1250 m. It’s believed that the Houthis captured many M82 sniper rifles from the Saud-led forces.
Since the Saudi coalition besieged the Houthis-held areas in Yemen, the Houthis and the Yemeni Army have worked hard to make use to each weapon they have.
That riffles should be out, by the troops, not in a museum..
Well done Yemen engineers. Its a great news. Self reliance is very important for defending its own country. Yemen is a home of great and talented people. Yemen develops their own missiles, UAV drones, artilary weapons etc.
Nice but they need anti-aircraft weapons; not that killing soldiers on the ground isn’t useful.
30 mm will have one hell of a recoil
The Houthis captured Barret M-82???…………until now i don´t see any photos.