Ukraine’s armed forces have adopted a new semi-automatic sniper rifle to replace the venerable SVD. Ukraine has announced the adoption of the Zbroyar Z-10, a semi-automatic 7.62×51mm sniper rifle, as the UAR-10.  This means not only changing the weapon system but also the caliber itself.

Back in September Zbroyar director Sergey Gorban, speaking to milnavigator.com.ua, confirmed that he believed that the “Z-10 is considered to be a promising model for replacing the CIA [SVD], But I think this will not happen soon, the state is not ready for this.” It seems he was right, and the move seems to have come sooner than expected. uprom.info, a site that follows Ukrainian industry news, says the general adoption comes as Ukraine’s army looks to “step up the sniper component of our troops.”

Zbroyar Z-10 now adopted as the UAR-10 (Zbroyar)

The UAR-10 has been in testing for a number of years seeing action with the elite 79th Air Assault Brigade.  Reportedly, the UAR-10 will be the military version of Z-10 rifle made by a Ukrainian company called Zbroyar. If this is true, then it means they already have the manufacturing experience and capabilities and they can produce domestically.

The adoption of the Zbroyar Z-10, chambered in 7.62×51 NATO rather than the readily available 7.62×54mm round used by the SVD, is another signal that Ukraine is intent on aligning with its NATO allies and that switching to a NATO caliber makes sense.

Earlier we saw this tendency with the intention to adopt the M4-WAC-47 rifle, which was an AR-15 style rifle coming with a 5.56x45mm NATO and 7.62x39mm upper receivers and dedicated to ensuring a smooth transition to the NATO caliber.

Ukraine’s new Z-10/UAR-10 (sptarget.com)

Zbroyar is one of Ukraine’s leading manufacturers of civilian precision rifles and offers both gas-operated and bolt-action rifles. According to MilMag, the Z-10 is based on the Eugene Stoner designed AR-10.

Weighing 11lbs (5kg) the new rifle has a 20-inch chrome-lined free-floating barrel with a guaranteed barrel life of 7,000 rounds. It has an aluminium receiver, a LUTH-AR MBA buttstock, a Picatinny top rail and a lightweight configurable fore-end. The Ukrainian army claims, the UAR-10 can reach out to ranges of up to 1,200 metres, a marked improvement on the SVD’s max effective range of 800m.

Zbroyar Z-10 (16″ barrel)                                                                                                                        Images by Zbroyar.ua

Zbroyar’s website lists some of the civilian Z-10’s specifications which seem to be in line with the adopted Ukrainian military model:

Features:
• Barrel length – 20 “,” free-float barrel “type contour,
• cold- formed barrels, chrome channel and chamber,
• cutting steps: 1: 9.5”, 1:10 “, 1:11 “, 1:12” The cutting step can be changed depending on the party (please specify).
• The firing range with the use of high-quality munitions up to 1 MOA.
• The threaded threading device is 5/8 to 24 TPI. Two-chamber DHA in the kit;
• landing size of the gasblock – 0,936 “(23,8 mm). Gasblock – low profile, unregulated, on the screw screws (not on the pins).
The barrels of the category “billet” are made by the method of milling from a plate of high-strength aluminum alloy. After machining on CNC machines, the details were treated with the stonewashing method, subjected to solid anodization; Cover Cerakote. Available in colors: “Sand”, “Black”.
It is equipped with
an example of A2 (or IMI SRS1) and a pistol grip «M4», a magazine «Magpul», a low-profile handkerchief, with a 12.5 “(320 mm) long cockpit with a top tile Picatini, with the possibility of installing side and bottom additional tiles. a platoon, a one-stage push-trigger mechanism.

Ukraine’s new UAR-10 sniper rifle (Milnavigator.com.ua)

Sources:

Interview with the director of the Zbroyar plant, milnavigator.com.ua, retrieved 06/02/18 from source

Ukrainian Arsenal: Sniper Rifle UR-10, uprom.info, retrieved 07/02/18 from source
UR-10 is the successor of SVD, MilMag, retrieved 07/02/18 from source

“На озброєння ЗСУ прийнято 7,62-мм cамозарядну напівавтоматичну снайперську гвинтівку UR-10”. (2018, January 28). Ukrainian Military Pages. Retrieved from source