PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 18. /TASS/. Special operations unit will be the first ones to receive the new MTs-572 Astarte rifle from the High Precision Weapons holding, Deputy Managing Director of the Instrument-Making Design Bureau Vitaly Bulgakov told reporters at the Army-2023 Forum.

"Special operations teams will be the first to get the rifle. We are focusing on specialists; it is not needed in the army at a large scale," the executive said.

Series production of the Astarte is planned to be launched by the end of this year and about a thousand of such rifles will be produced, Bulgakov added.

The new high-caliber sniper rifle MTs-572 Astarte is for the first time demonstrated at the Forum.

The Army-2023 International Military-Technical Forum is taking place at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center, the Alabino shooting range and the Kubinka airfield on August 14-20. The event is being organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. TASS serves as its strategic media partner.