The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has awarded Winchester Ammunition with a contract to provide .308 Win./7.62 NATO cartridges for its sniper teams. The agreement—the first of its kind for the caliber—has a value threshold of $5 million. Terms are for five years.
Winchester 169-grain Sierra bottail hollowpoint .308 Win. loads were selected as the sole source for issue by the FBI after undergoing the agency’s rigorous testing protocol and examination process. The skillfully engineered round was determined to be the best value product based on a variety of important criteria, including reliability and accuracy.
“To the East Alton and Oxford teams responsible for this great win, thank you for your diligent work on this competitive and highly technical project,” said Brett Flaugher, president of Winchester. “This victory speaks to the talents and expertise of our team and I am very proud to see Winchester being selected once again by a premier national security organization such as the FBI.”
The FBI established a program to build SWAT teams in 1973, an effort that was complete by the end of the decade. Today the SWAT Operations Unit falls under the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), an assembly of teams with expertise in crisis management, hazardous device disruption, behavioral analysis, tactical operations, aviation support and more.
Each of the FBI’s 56 field offices have a SWAT team on site, but those agents who are members are required to maintain their regular investigative duties throughout the year—despite the additional training. Their expertise is often put to work at more mundane tasks, including site surveys at upcoming special events or providing security.
Winchester, the world’s largest small-caliber ammunition enterprise, has supported America’s military, federal government and law enforcement for more than a century.
