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The United States Navy Mark 12 Mod 0/1 Special Purpose Rifle (SPR) is a rifle in service with United States Special Operations Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom and previously in Operation Iraqi Freedom. SPR initially stood for ''Special Purpose Receiver'', but that nomenclature has been replaced as the weapon became a stand-alone weapons system, and not just an add-on upper receiver assembly (part of the proposed SOPMOD upgrades). The SPR was eventually type classified by the U.S. Navy as the Mk 12. Note that the weapon was developed by a Navy office (Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division) for SOCOM units, not for use by units that fall under the conventional US Navy. ==Background== The SPR, used by Special Operations Forces of both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, is a heavily modified light designated marksman variation of the M16 line of infantry weapons, and is chambered for NATO standard 5.56×45mm ammunition. The SPR concept was originally proposed by Mark Westrom, currently president of ArmaLite, while working at Rock Island Arsenal. The program was an outgrowth of the desire by both US Army and Navy special operations forces for a rifle with greater effective range than an M4 carbine but still shorter in length than a standard issue M16A2/A4. The SPR program appears to have grown out of both the SOPMOD Block II program, and the U.S. Navy SEALs Recon Rifle (a 16" flat-topped M16 carbine). The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division expanded on the Recon Rifle. The exact history of the SPR is unclear, but there appear to be either four or five prime iterations of the rifle, culminating in the most recent Mk 12 Mod 1 version. One progression has four models: SPR Proto 1, SPR Proto 2, Mk 12 Mod 0 and Mk 12 Mod 1. The other progression has five models: SPR, SPR/A, SPR/B, Mk 12 Mod 0, and Mk 12 Mod 1. The specifications in this article follow the second progression. Different U.S. military service branches appear to typically deploy different iterations of the SPR. Photographs, including both U.S. Department of Defense photographs and privately obtained photographs, consistently show most U.S. Army Special Forces operators using the Mk 12 Mod 0, while NAVSPECWAR operators and U.S. Army Rangers have been identified as using the Mk 12 Mod 1 version.〔Bartocci, ''Black Rifle II: The M16 into the 21st Century''. Copyright 2004, Collector Grade Publications.〕〔Bryant and Bryant, ''Weapons of the US Army Rangers''. Copyright 2005, Zenith Press.〕 In fact, Marcus Luttrell mentioned the fact that he carried a MK 12 during Operation Red Wings several times in his 2007 book ''Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10''. Limited use was seen with the USMC. Beginning in mid-2011, SOCOM began divesting the Mk 12 SPR from their inventory and replacing it with the marksman version of the SCAR Mk 17. The Mk 12 is to be completely replaced by 2017.〔(USASOC Reveals FNH-USA Mk20 Plan ) - Kitup.Military.com, 8 June 2011〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mk 12 Special Purpose Rifle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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