Including training courses, operator training , tech manuals for the Gun techs (in both official languages..huge cost), lifetime 3rd line repair etc etc..
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Considering what we paid for those Tikkas too............ Seems to be it is a a way to pay huge for looks and brand,not for performance and effectiveness.Just my 2 cents.
I wish many of us could afford these kind of expenditures.............. wait ...............we do pay for those mentioned too .....don't we?
I was involved in DND Procurement for many years. Until you sit in and see how the spare parts and maintenance programs work contractually, you have no idea on what cost are incurred to maintain a piece of equipment thru it's life cycle.
Not to mention, especially one that is a directed buy....buying Canadain inherently increases the cost of any product. But essential.. as we've seen during the pandemic and we had to buy cheap stuff off shore.
Let's be honest. Procurement from DND and PSPC is absolutely abhorrent.
By the time a specification is agreed upon and created, the need has changed, or the technology being spec'd is obsolete.
31K per unit is a huge overspend. Particularly when they can buy a COTS solution from a firm like Knight Armament in the US. ( Basically the new rifle is an accurized AR-10 in a DMR configuration).
I sat gobsmacked in some meetings with PWGSC listening to how the contract award was going to be evaluated. The kitting of soldiers is anything but "the best product money can buy" as it should be.
Diemaco in Kitchener used to build spec ordered guns for DND under a license with Colt. Colt has since bought them out and I believe the vast majority of guns DND buys are sole sourced thru them. But they are never a COTS (commercial off the shelf) buy..oh no DND always tweaks everything so the costs rise to accommodate the retooling etc.
My experience with some of these types of contracts a goodly portion of the costs are associated with Tech publications and the biggest driver of that is the requirement of Bilingual manuals. I've seen typical costs in the neighbourhood of $1 per word for translation...not uncommon so see $3+ million in additional cost added to a contract just for that requirement alone.
Sucks, but when you involve the Government in anything ...you're hit all kinds of PC stuff that ensures you paying a lot more for a product to be built by the lowest bidder.
Interesting it looks like the US may be going with the 6.5 Creedmore in lieu of the 7.65 x 51 mm Nato for their sniper support weapon;
Quote:
"The Next Gen Squad Weapons are not sniper weapons, and the 6.5 mm Creedmoor really fits that sniper support role," Babbitt said recently at the National Defense Industrial Association's vSOFIC 2020 industry conference. "We are replacing our 7.62x51 mm sniper support weapons, which have a maximum effective range of 700 to 800 meters, with 6.5 mm Creedmoor sniper support weapons that will give us a maximum effective range of around 1,200 meters."
Looks really nice. Is it possible to get one for a civilian? It would probably be cool for hunting.
I’m looking now for a good hunting rifle. What do you think about this Bergara BXR from walkeroutdoors.net? I like the looks and the price. It also has replaceable spacers, an accurate barrel, and a fully adjustable stock. There definitely are rifles that have better characteristics than this one, but they are also more expensive, and I don’t want to spend that much money from the beginning. Hunting is just my new hobby, and I’m not sure whether I will pursue it for a long time.
Range more than anything. We have continued to use 7.62 bolt-action sniper rifles even after switching to the C7/5.56 as our primary rifle 35-plus years ago.
We also have some .50 BMG sniper rifles. And I believe they tried the .338 Lapua as well.
As to what our allies do, the U.S., at least, has done exactly the same. The Germans use the .300 Win Mag and the Brits use the .338 Lapua.
I hope that it’s tough, accurate and reliable.