Materially Different
Anti Material Rifles are made to destroy equipment or vehicles at a distance.
There is plenty of stuff a modern military uses which is essential for smooth operations, but which isn’t as armored as a tank. Mobile communications equipment, for example.
If you can destroy the equipment pictured above, it would seriously degrade the effectiveness of whatever military unit uses it. They wouldn’t be able to call for airstrikes or artillery support, for example.
The AMR is supposed to provide a long range, precise ability to screw that stuff up. A small three man Special Forces team on a hill overlooking a base or vehicle park could wreck millions upon millions of dollars worth of vital equipment.
If stuff is your target, then you are going to need a big round in order to do the greatest amount of damage per shot. An added bonus is that a really big bullet, traveling at a very high velocity, also will have a extremely long range. Rifles chambered for the .50 BMG round have gained a reputation not only for the intended anti-material role, but also as a sniper weapon to remove individuals from play. Larger rifles, those chambered for a 20mm round or larger, fire bullets so big that they also have space inside to be packed with explosives. Really long range grenades.
I came across this article at Strategypage.com. The FBI is purchasing two extremely expensive 20mm AMR’s, rifles that are better suited for destroying vehicles than for precisely targeting individual criminals. What is puzzling to me is what they think they need them for.
The FBI Hostage Rescue Team is probably the intended recipients of the new rifles. They have been involved in various operations concerning US embassies overseas, and it makes sense that they would want some capability to disable vehicles if they are ever called upon to act in similar situations in the future.
I just hope that the FBI hasn’t become aware of some sort of trend in the plans laid by domestic terrorists, and are gearing up to counter them.
December 17th, 2009 at 11:34 am
A 20mm AP will disable anything short of a main battle tank. I assume the FBI is being appropriately paraniod about terrorist threats. It is kind of funny to imagine Bonnie and Clyde getting their getaway car blown in half by one of these mosters.
December 17th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
David Codrea at The War on Guns asked the FBI to explain, and they seemed to indicate that they maintain a collection of weapons; these rifles are evidently just going into that collection, and aren’t intended for the actual use of agents.
Grain of salt–the correspondent’s comments are a bit vague, and speak of her own understanding of the situation–but I’d guess it’s a matter of “we’ll need one for comparison _if_ it’s ever used in a crime”.
December 17th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Another use for this type of weapon is “reconnaissance by fire,” a.k.a. “doorknocking.” Send in a few rounds from a relatively safe distance and see if there’s any reaction.
I assume — I hope — this is not a tactic the FBI uses.
December 18th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
What I found interesting was that one of the two rifles was done in a nautical camo pattern.