#MPT76

A recent flood of images from the excellent Turkish defense armaments based Twitter account Aybars have revealed that Turkish infantrymen are receiving the latest variant of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 as a Designated Marksman’s Rifle. To be clear, this isn’t the first time that the new Turkish service rifle has been configured and issued in the DM role to frontline units, but it is certainly the most advanced attempt by incorporating a new scope, dedicated bipod, Turkish made 3E EOS LIRIL 300 laser designator, and possibly match ammunition. One of the scopes that have been in use for some time was a variable power Schmidt & Bender, however, in these new photographs, it appears that a Bushnell LRS 4.5-30x 50mm has been mounted in place of the previous optics in use. Gone is the Grippod that is still prevalent on numerous MPT76s in service today.

The independent Turkish small arms company Sarsılmaz has released their first pre-production prototypes of the MPT76 and should soon begin production on their share (10,000 rifles) of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 rifle contract ordered by the Turkish Armed Forces. MKEK has since already been producing MPT76s since 2015(20,000 rifles), and along with Kalekalip (15,000 rifles) will form one of the three companies producing the infantry rifle slated to replace current HK33s in service with the Turkish Armed Forces. Approximately 35,014 ( later upped to 45,000) are slated within this contract, but that will certainly not be enough to arm the entirety of the 500,000 plus service men and women currently in the armed forces of Turkey. These MPT76s appear to be making their way to the infantry community, with follow-on contracts to arm the rest of the military in the ensuing years.

Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah has reported that MKEK will be delivering 450 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 services to Somalia, and another 2,500 have been ordered by the Turkish Republic of Norther Cyprus. Although the Somali order is quite small comparative to the size of the countries military, it would appear that these rifles are slated for either special operations use or possibly a section of the government responsible for head of state protection. However the Northern Cyprus order is quite different in that the security forces of TRNC number around 15,000, so the 2,500 rifles will most likely be arming infantry units that need replacing of their current G3 rifles. It must be noted that TRNC forces actually fall under the direct command of the Turkish armed forces, the current political situation on the island in regards to the north is very controversial and remains so to this day.