Taiwan’s 205th Armory small arms design bureau has unveiled a 7.62x51mm NATO Designated Marksman’s rifle at the 2017 Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition as evidenced by the Sohu news agency. Designated the XT107, it is a 7.62x51mm NATO version of a modular 5.56x45mm NATO rifle of the same name. Taiwan has had this modular service rifle in development since at least 2013 with the XT97, later renamed the XT105 in 2015, and appears to have been renamed XT107 in the latest iteration. Unfortunately, we haven’t had an in-depth look at the internals of the rifle since the XT97 so we cannot discuss at length about what changes the design has undergone. However, one thing is for sure and that is Taiwanese Defense Forces still appear to be armed with the 5.56x45mm NATO T91 service rifle, and as of now we don’t have any information showing if the adoption of a new service rifle will take place in the near future.

From what we know about the XT97, it would appear that the XT107 DM rifle uses a Kalashnikov gas piston operating system, has modular characteristics that allow quick changing of the barrel in addition to different barrel lengths available. The rifle on display appears to be suppressor capable with an attachment system similar to a Knight’s Armament locking tab. It has a full-length Picatinny rail at 12 o’clock and appears to have either M-Lok or Keymod “esque” mounting sections along the sides of the handguard.