All my knowledge about snipers comes from Enemy at the Gate (I know, I know) so I assumed not letting people know your precise location was an important part of being a sniper.
Yes, but unless we're talking hardcore secret squirrel spec ops sniping (the kind who crawl for literal days to get to a hill, wait three more days, then shoot the nuts off a general before crawling back out again), most are engaging within a few hundred metres, and it'll be easy enough to start to narrow down their location.
If you're approaching a village that has a tall building, you probably assume they're in that building - otherwise you just keep taking cover until you get a good idea of a general location and direction, then call in mortars and artillery to flatten everything in that grid square. That's essentially how the Soviets tried to kill Simo Haya: they knew roughly which patch of woods he was operating in, so they just levelled the woods.
There's the "sniper" stuff that's, like, shooting somebody four miles away and hitting them by aiming at the sun.
Then there's the "sharp shooter" stuff where they're doing SWAT team styled "trying to shoot enemies that are shooting at my team" stuff. Pretty hard to keep your position concealed when you're constantly sending rounds downrange from the same location.
I think Designated Marksman" is the term the US uses. The Soviets had a thing where they had a guy at squad level with a powerful, accurate rifle and mid-range optics so the squad would have built-in precision firepower. I think the US usually attaches snipers to infantry platoons. From what I remember this goes back to WWII, where the US liked to have a small number of really good snipers, while Comrade Ivan preferred to have a lot of okay snipers to back up their front line troops.
Some asshole in hollywood: "Communism doesn't work because these two really hot guys want to bang Rachel Weiss but Rachel Weiss only wants to bang one of these really hot guys. Also the Soviets definitely machine-gunned their own retreating troops that's a real thing that happened trust us."
True. But, at the same time moving positions carries significant risks, especially if you miss your target.
Also, artillery shells and hellfire missiles don't need to be nearly as precise as a sniper's bullet. There's a reason the preferred weapon of insurgents in places like Afghanistan and Iraq were roadside bombs and not rifle rounds. You didn't last long by actually engaging with the enemy in person.
All my knowledge about snipers comes from Enemy at the Gate (I know, I know) so I assumed not letting people know your precise location was an important part of being a sniper.
Yes, but unless we're talking hardcore secret squirrel spec ops sniping (the kind who crawl for literal days to get to a hill, wait three more days, then shoot the nuts off a general before crawling back out again), most are engaging within a few hundred metres, and it'll be easy enough to start to narrow down their location.
If you're approaching a village that has a tall building, you probably assume they're in that building - otherwise you just keep taking cover until you get a good idea of a general location and direction, then call in mortars and artillery to flatten everything in that grid square. That's essentially how the Soviets tried to kill Simo Haya: they knew roughly which patch of woods he was operating in, so they just levelled the woods.
Also worth remembering - Simo did most of his killing with an SMG, from ambush. He wasn't just killing people from a mile away with a rifle.
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There's the "sniper" stuff that's, like, shooting somebody four miles away and hitting them by aiming at the sun.
Then there's the "sharp shooter" stuff where they're doing SWAT team styled "trying to shoot enemies that are shooting at my team" stuff. Pretty hard to keep your position concealed when you're constantly sending rounds downrange from the same location.
I think Designated Marksman" is the term the US uses. The Soviets had a thing where they had a guy at squad level with a powerful, accurate rifle and mid-range optics so the squad would have built-in precision firepower. I think the US usually attaches snipers to infantry platoons. From what I remember this goes back to WWII, where the US liked to have a small number of really good snipers, while Comrade Ivan preferred to have a lot of okay snipers to back up their front line troops.
Some asshole in hollywood: "Communism doesn't work because these two really hot guys want to bang Rachel Weiss but Rachel Weiss only wants to bang one of these really hot guys. Also the Soviets definitely machine-gunned their own retreating troops that's a real thing that happened trust us."
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True. But, at the same time moving positions carries significant risks, especially if you miss your target.
Also, artillery shells and hellfire missiles don't need to be nearly as precise as a sniper's bullet. There's a reason the preferred weapon of insurgents in places like Afghanistan and Iraq were roadside bombs and not rifle rounds. You didn't last long by actually engaging with the enemy in person.