New SAS rifle can down helicopter with one shot

SPECIAL FORCES have been armed with a rifle so powerful it can blast helicopters out of the sky and blow apart armour-plated vehicles.

The Gepard GM6 Lynx has been likened to a howitzer cannon for its devastating impact, even though it weighs just 23lb and is less than 4ft long. Made in Hungary, the semiautomatic rifle has a range of oneand-a-quarter miles, and features a barrel that retracts like an artillery gun back into the body of the rifle to absorb the enormous recoil.

One Special Forces member said: ‘The GM6 is fantastic. It’s like going into battle carrying an artillery piece. The troops call it the Howitzer. It an absolutely massive punch. The rounds it fires can stop a truck bomb in its tracks. A team equipped with one of these could take out half a dozen very expensive fighters or helicopters very quickly.’ Although it is powerful, the £9,000 rifle is easy to carry and ideal for parachuting into the battlefield.

The gun uses a magazine of five .50-calibre Raufoss Mk2 bullets, which it can fire in under three seconds. The rounds can punch through armour before exploding inside a fuel tank or the interior of an armoured vehicle.

The SAS, SBS and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment are believed to have bought 150 of the rifles. They have already been deployed in Syria and Iraq. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment last night.

...AND THIS IS THE ACTUAL SIZE OF THE BULLET IT FIRES