Watch camo-clad Prince William jolt forward as he shoots sniper rifle AND machine gun on range in Salisbury Plain
HOT shot Wills has been spotted shooting a sniper and flying a drone as he joined the Welsh Guards for drill practice this morning.
Clad in camouflage, combat uniform, helmet and protective vest, The Prince of Wales, 42, fired a machine gun and flew a drone on Salisbury Plain.
Although he was firing at dummy targets during the training exercise - the ammunition was real.
He joined 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, who were on ceremonial duty for two years including the late Queen's funeral and King's Coronation, as they returned to Field Duty to show off their weapons.
The prince, a commissioned Sandhurst officer and troop tank commander with the Blues & Royals, sat down to line up his British-made Accuracy International L11583 .338 calibre sniper rifle.
He released the trigger, sending off a puff of smoke and air, and said afterwards: "I really enjoyed that."
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He struck a steel body target poking up out of a tank skeleton around 500 metres.
The platoon commander, who cannot be named for security reasons, described how the rifle can score a 'headshot' from 400 metres but 'harassing' range of to 1.5km.
He said: "He fired a few rounds and hit. I heard the ping."
And added: "He seemed to really like it. He was asking how training was going and engaging with the blokes. He did well. It meant a lot to us to have him here today. It was brilliant.
"He is down to earth, he knows the blokes, he’s got his finger on the pulse of them and their mentality. He engaged with them really well.
"He seemed very concerned with the flooding and wanted to make sure we hadn’t been too badly affected."
The future King then lay down in the grass and joined a group causing a deafening racket by blasting 7.62m General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs).
The prince said: "That sounds awesome."
He fired the full belt of 200 tracer rounds at tank columns 800metres away.
The battalion’s machine gun platoon commander said the gun fired by William was a ‘staple’ weapon that had been used for more than half a decade and creates a ‘beating zone’, an oval-shaped area where the bullets don’t land in the same place.
And added: "I'm sure he would have done something like this before [when he was in the military]. It is very special to have him as our colonel.
"The regiment has a long relationship with His Majesty The King, when he was Prince of Wales, and now His Royal Highness.
"It’s amazing for morale for the guys, especially when they have been doing a lot of ceremonial duties, to come down on a visit like this. It is special.
"We can get hands-on and show him what is done. That means a lot to them. It’s really good for us to get back to this, especially when the weather is like this."
In a further display of modern battlefield weaponry he battalion's new £7,500 drones which are ‘transforming’ warfare.
The battalion’s senior small unmanned aircraft system operator showed Wills the drone's ‘follow me’ and ‘cameraman’ modes, to track individual enemies.
He said: "He was asking a lot of questions about Ukraine and the use of drones in the conflict. This is a new bit of kit being brought into a military context.
"We are now utilising them on the ground and they are proving a successful asset in current affairs right now. I showed the Prince of Wales the pictures we have gathered in Oman. They say a picture paints a thousand words and we have that now, in our hands.
"Having him as Colonel is brilliant, first of all a member of the Royal Family, and secondly we are the Welsh Guards. To have a member of the Royal Family to come out and visit them in training straight away is great for morale and great leadership, I think.
"It’s great that he has operated these systemx too, and the troops agree. He was good, he could be trained up.
"I asked him to attend the systems operators course. He was asking a lot about the hours.
"We have to achieve 100 hours of flight time before we can go beyond visual boundaries. He was saying for a pilot’s licence you only need 45 hours. ‘
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William has been Colonel of the Welsh Guards since taking over from his father The King last year.
The force has also been in overseas operations in the Falkland Islands and Oman.
