The Armalite AR10(T) in Canadian Service
The Armalite AR10(T) Semi-Automatic Sniper Weapon (SASW) in Canadian Service
The Marksman Rifle System Project (MRS) originated as an Immediate Operational Requirement (IOR) in 2003 to support Canadian Forces troops sent to Kabul as part of Operation Athena (Op ATHENA). The MRS began as Statement of Operational Requirements (SOR) meant to address the gap in CF bolt-action sniper rifle capabilities – all in-service 7.62mm Parker-Hale C3A1 rifles were wearing out and the larger 12.7mm (50 cal) McMillan C15 was intended as an anti-matériel weapon as opposed to anti-personnel. Plans were being formulated for a new CF Medium-Range Sniper Weapon System (MRSW) but it would be several years before the CF fielded a Canadian-made 8.6 mm (.338" Lapua Magnum) Prairie Gun Works Defence Technologies Inc (PGWDTI) C14 Timberwolf. Meanwhile, MRS was to fill a gap.
The MRS would consist of two different semi-automatic rifle designs – one 7.62mm and one 5.56mm (above) – to fill two separate roles while overlapping on a third. The larger calibre rifle was to act as a spotter's rifle backing up the sniper. The smaller-bore rifle would act as a Designated Marksman weapon (the CF having flirted with the DM concept for some time prior to MRS ). Being rapid-firing, both MRS rifles would provide 'security' for CF sniper teams in the field. Neither MRS type would be a primary sniper weapon (that job was left to specialized bolt-action rifles). Instead, the MRS armed other members of the sniper team as 'security' weapons (making best use of their faster rates of fire). Both rifles were also meant to be interim types and, as often happens with DND procurements, the orders for MRS were to prove to be too small to provide for both operational and training requirements of the CF.
Around 2004, the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) trialled at least two 7.62mm semi-automatic candidates for the MRS Project. Both rifles were based on the original ArmaLite AR-10 design of 1955. One was the LR-308 from the Minnesota-based DPMS Panther Arms (which would lead to DPMS' later LRT-SASS and REPR or Rapid Engagement Precision Rifle). The second design was the AR-10(T) from a revived ArmaLite Inc. A half-dozen rifles participated in MRS trials. The winning MRS candidate was the ArmaLite AR-10(T), a 'target model' of their updated 1996 AR-10B rifle design. Known by the CF simply as the AR-10T (no DND 'C' designation was ever applied to the interim MRS types), the ArmaLite entered Canadian service as the Semi-Automatic Sniper Weapon (SASW). The SASW acronym caused some confusion as a more numerous AR-10 clone, the US military's Knight's Armament M110/SR-25 is called a Semi-Automatic Sniper System (SASS).
Although ArmaLite won the CF's MRS contest, the rewards were modest. Only 18 AR-10(T) SASW service rifles were bought by DND. All 18 of the AR-10(T)s were immediately deployed to Afghanistan to back up CF sniper teams. By all accounts, the AR-10(T)s performed well in-theatre but there was a "fly in the ointment". With such a minuscule order, there was not enough AR-10(T) SASWs to both fill both the operational requirements in Afghanistan and CF training needs back home.
Photos of the AR10T on Operation Reassurance (Op REASSURANCE) in Poland, 2015:
If the AR-10T in Canadian Forces service is a bit of a mystery, the 5.56mm component of the Marksman Rifle System is a near enigma. It is not clear whether DND held a competition for the smaller rifle. But the outcome was the CF's handful of Diemaco C7CT "Custom Tacticals" (C7CT is not a CF designation, it and 'Custom Tactical' are Diemaco/Colt Canada brands) The C7CT is a Designated Marksman (DM) weapon but not in the sense that other armies use that term. A Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) is usually interpreted as a squad weapon. Yet only a dozen or so C7CT rifles are thought to have been possessed by the CF – perhaps even fewer. Regardless of what they are called, C7CTs seem to have mostly filled a 'security' role with sniper teams. Going by DND/CF photos, C7CT are generally used observers for snipers with 12.7mm C15A1 rifles. 'Security' is provided by C8 carbines. Obviously the C7CT is a useful weapon since it is still in CF service (and maintaining a tiny number of specialist weapons is never easy (even when there is great commonality with the standard service rifles). A simple explanation might be that the C15A1 is being used in its intended original role as an anti-matériel rifle and against other high-value targets while the C7CT, with its higher than a normal C7/C8 accuracy, has become a back-up sniper weapon.
With so few rifles to go around, it is hardly surprising that, less than a decade on, the CF's AR-10(T) SASWs are wearing out. In Jan 2013, a Notice of Proposed Procurement for a new 'Precision 7.62mm Weapon' was published on MERX. Although specifically listed as an AR-10(T) replacement, the call for new suppressed-firing semi-automatic rifles is obvious enough. So too is the demand that the new PW is to be based on an "AR platform" or lower receiver. What is apparent about the MRS weapon components is that, while there is a Notice of Proposed Procurement issued for a replacement for the 7.62mm AR-10T, there is no such indicator that there is a hunt on for a 'next-generation' 5.56mm rifle to replace the C7CTs. Nor is the C7CT mentioned in the list of CF specialist weapons with which the new Observation Target Acquisition System project must be compatible. That alone would seem to suggest that the Canadian Forces sniper teams have put great value on the 7.62mm rifles.
In 2019, the CF purchased 300 7.62mm C20 Semi-Automatic Precision Rifles (SAPR) from Colt Canada. The C20 rifle is destined to replace the 5.56mm C8A3s currently in used sniper teams for "personal security".
If you have more info/pics on rifles in Canadian service, post it down below!
Thanks,
Kevin
