plumnovel Chapter 0038: Pilot Project
Chapter 0038: Pilot Project
In the office, Gao Cheng was still thinking about Zheng Yingqi's precise marksman rhetoric.
He's been obsessed with this word for the past few days.
"Company Commander, if you ask me, the snipers our company has trained are somewhat like a combination of marksman and sniper, but they're still a long way from being true snipers."
Gao Cheng couldn't help but recall what Zheng Yingqi had said when he called Zheng Yingqi over that day, wanting Zheng Yingqi to be a sniper.
"Take the sniper for example. As an elite soldier, a sniper should not be mixed with infantry squads. Snipers should be trained in sniper teams as support and strike forces, while marksmen should operate with squads and serve as an extension of the squad's firepower."
At that moment, Zheng Yingqi made a shooting motion:
"The marksman uses a high-precision semi-automatic weapon to effectively engage targets at medium to long range with precision and continuous fire, bang bang bang bang..."
At that moment, Zheng Yingqi even made a funny gunshot sound.
Zheng Yingqi's meaning was clear—instead of equipping one or two squads with one sniper, it would be better to prepare two precision marksmen with medium- and long-range accuracy in each squad. He suggested that Gao Cheng conduct a pilot program to enhance the squad's firepower extension capabilities.
Gao Cheng was immediately drawn to what Zheng Yingqi was talking about. He had also studied foreign military snipers and knew what the sniper team Zheng Yingqi was talking about was all about. Gao Cheng thought this model was useful, but conventional troops (non-special operations forces) couldn't afford it. For example, the special sniper ammunition was still in the demonstration stage and was not suitable for conventional troops at all.
Furthermore, the Type 85 sniper rifle is a copy of the Soviet SVD sniper rifle, and if we trace its origins, how many years has it been around?
Gao Cheng knew about the new sniper rifle, the Type 88 sniper rifle, which was being deployed in small numbers. This type of sniper rifle, which was defined as being used by non-snipers, was exactly what Zheng Yingqi called a "precision marksman"—well, the Type 88 sniper rifle's range of 800 meters also matched Zheng Yingqi's statement.
As if possessed, Gao Cheng wrote the words "precision marksman" on the paper. After thinking for a moment, he decided to bring Zheng Yingqi over and study him further.
After sticking his head out the window, Gao Cheng called out, "Hey you, call Zheng Yingqi from Class 3 over here."
……
Zheng Yingqi had a smattering of knowledge about marksmen—basically, he was only half-skilled, but in this age of information overload, he had gathered quite a bit of information, even from the scattered bits and pieces.
Zheng Yingqi, now a soldier, sometimes wonders about the combat situation when they, armed with Type 81 rifles, encounter American soldiers—how should they deal with the marksmen in an American infantry squad who possess medium and long-range firepower?
Suppressive firepower? Rely on one or two snipers per platoon?
We can't compete with them in terms of sheer numbers!
Therefore, Zheng Yingqi thought that the company should have two or three dedicated sniper teams, and each squad should be specially trained to train one or two marksmen. The training of marksmen is different from that of dedicated snipers, and dedicated snipers do not actually need to be mixed in with ordinary squads.
Of course, this was just his immature idea. When Gao Cheng asked him if he wanted to be a sniper, Zheng Yingqi took the opportunity to express his thoughts and said that he was willing to be a "precision marksman".
At the time, Gao Cheng said he would think about it, but Zheng Yingqi did not expect that Gao Cheng would be obsessed with the words "precision marksman".
"Report!"
"Enter!"
When Zheng Yingqi entered Gao Cheng's office, he saw Gao Cheng staring blankly at a piece of paper in front of him. The paper contained only a few illegible characters, and Zheng Yingqi glanced at it curiously.
Precision marksman.
"Have a seat." Gao Cheng gestured for Zheng Yingqi to sit down. Seeing Zheng Yingqi covered in sweat, he tossed him a bottle of mineral water. Zheng Yingqi didn't stand on ceremony, caught the water, and gulped it down in one go.
"You said before that your idea was just an outline. Has it been improved now?" Gao Cheng asked.
"Company Commander, this is what I'm thinking. We're a reconnaissance company, so professional snipers are essential. But our snipers are more like marksmen than snipers, and we have too few of them. I personally think each squad should have at least two. Also, professional snipers should be organized into small teams. You'll have to consider these things yourself, Company Commander. I'm just offering a haphazard idea." Zheng Yingqi said with a smirk, looking like a scoundrel.
After joining the 7th Company, Zheng Yingqi interacted with Gao Cheng more often and gradually became more at ease around him. Gao Cheng was just that kind of person; as long as you were excellent and didn't cause him any trouble, he rarely paid attention to certain details in daily interactions. This was probably the unique confidence of a son of a military family.
Gao Cheng pointed at Zheng Yingqi: "You... say something more substantial!"
Zheng Yingqi organized his thoughts, "Company Commander, our Steel Seventh Company is undoubtedly top-tier among ordinary units. However, we can't just look around at the ordinary units. What about similar reconnaissance companies? And the legendary special forces?"
Gao Cheng looked at Zheng Yingqi in surprise, not expecting that Zheng Yingqi could actually bring up the special forces. At this time, the special forces were still a very mysterious entity, and even ordinary soldiers rarely had access to information about them. After all, although my country's special forces existed during the War of Resistance Against Japan, their true modernization only began after the Gulf War.
Zheng Yingqi mentioned the special forces because they would inevitably clash with the Old A in future exercises. He remembered Yuan Lang saying with great admiration that the Steel Seventh Company's casualty ratio against the Old A was half of what he had expected. This was Yuan Lang's praise, but it was also Gao Cheng's most humiliating thing!
"Company Commander, based on my understanding of special forces, once we make contact with them on the battlefield, within the effective range of their assault rifles, we're basically the ones they're relentlessly attacking. You can imagine that, right?"
Gao Cheng fell silent. Special forces soldiers are elite soldiers selected and screened from numerous units, built up with bullets and money. Gao Cheng could imagine their individual combat power—under the same conditions of using the same Type 81 rifle, they could easily overpower his own forces at the edge of their firing range.
The 7th Company has excellent shooters, but how many of them can achieve good results in the 400 meters?
"They have specialized snipers. I don't think our snipers can quickly threaten them. On the contrary, I think our own snipers will become the first targets of their attacks. If our snipers are killed, we would need to push the line of fire forward by 150 to 300 meters, risking their accurate fire. What kind of losses would we suffer during this process?"
But what if we have a large number of accurate marksmen?
Zheng Yingqi's words struck a chord with Gao Cheng. The reconnaissance company itself had poor firepower delivery capabilities. If a firefight broke out during a deep reconnaissance mission, would the reconnaissance company rely on mortars at medium and long ranges?
Zheng Yingqi himself was also thinking:
If the 7th Company has a large number of accurate shooters, can Yuan Lang be invincible in front of the 7th Company during the exercise?
Yuan Lang and his team consisted of only two people, without even a sniper, just two assault riflemen, yet they managed to keep the Seventh Company pinned down. Cheng Cai had his sniper rifle aimed at them, but was easily killed in retaliation—what if there were several Cheng Cais?
Is it really that easy to turn the tables?
As for Xu Sanduo being able to capture Yuan Lang, well, that was because the kid unleashed his inner power, but this kind of soft power cannot be calculated—although Xu Sanduo brought honor to the Seventh Company!
"Furthermore, training a true sniper is extremely difficult. On the contrary, training a marksman within range is much simpler than training a sniper," Zheng Yingqi added at the end.