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British Army has ordered French-made anti-sniper system Cilas SLD 500 troops in Afghanistan 1001132.

| 2013
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Defence News - United Kingdom
 
 
Thursday, January 10, 2013, 09:56 AM
 
British Army has ordered French-made anti-sniper system Cilas SLD 500 for troops in Afghanistan.
British army has ordered the French-made anti-sniper system Cilas SLD 500 to help protect troops in Afghanistan, even as spending on military equipment to defeat the Taliban is in decline as the drawdown of combat troops gathers pace.
     
British army has ordered the French-made anti-sniper system SLD 500 to help protect troops in Afghanistan, even as spending on military equipment to defeat the Taliban is in decline as the drawdown of combat troops gathers pace.
Cilas SLD 500 Long Range surveillance and counter sniper system
     

The U.K. Defence Ministry revealed in late December that it was spending around 5 million pounds ($8 million) on an urgent operational requirement (UOR) to provide troops with equipment that uses a laser to detect the glass lenses used by the Taliban on sniper rifle sights.

The purchase coincided with the MoD's first public breakdown of how it had spent billions of pounds over the past four years equipping the military in Afghanistan and Iraq with UOR kits.

French company Cilas is due to begin deliveries of its SLD 500 system this week, having beat three other contenders for a deal signed Nov. 26, a company executive said.

The system is designed to spot snipers using optical sights by shining a laser in the direction of potential opponents. The system detects refraction when the laser hits the glass surface of a scope or binoculars.

France's Direction Générale de l'Armement procurement office funded much of the development of the SLD 500, but did not order it for the French Army. Several other countries have bought the system, the Cilas executive said. The U.S. Marine Corps purchased systems for evaluation but, as far as is known, did not buy the equipment for fielding.

News of the Cilas success follows an announcement by government officials during a trip to Afghanistan by British Prime Minister David Cameron just before Christmas that a further 230 million pounds would be spent on military equipment ahead of the withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.

The funding includes 29 million pounds for counter-IED equip ment; a 10 million pound upgrade of vehicles; and a 5 million pound improvement to ISR capabilities at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Afghanistan.
 
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