TR-116a Tactical Sniper Rifle

The TR-116a Tactical Sniper Rifle is a variant on the TR-116 rifle designed and later discarded from active use.

The TR-116 rifle is a hand-held rifle-type weapon, a projectile weapon developed by Starfleet Security for use in dampening fields or radiogenic environments where conventional energy weapons would be useless. The rifle fires a chemically propelled tritanium bullet. A working prototype of the weapon was developed, but Starfleet opted not to produce the weapon after the advent of the regenerative phaser.

In 2375, On Deep Space Nine Science Officer Chu'lak used a TR-116 rifle to murder fellow Starfleet officers Hector Ilario, Greta Vanderweg, and Zim Brott aboard Deep Space 9. Chu'lak's version of the TR-116 (which later became the TR-116a Tactical Sniper Rifle) was equipped with a micro-transporter, which allowed him to beam the bullet into another room, only 8-9 centimeters from its target. An exographic targeting sensor allowed Chu'lak to scan through walls and target victims anywhere on the station from his quarters.

The station's counsellor Lieutenant Ezri Dax later used a similarly modified rifle to non-lethally stop Chu'lak.

Following this incident and in light of the Dominion War Starfleet Command re-evaluated the TR-116. Finding that the modifications to the TR-116 overcame the weaknesses of the design Starfleet designated the modified TR-116 as the TR-116a and designated it for use in situations where high energy sensor arrays would detect directed energy weapons thereby giving away the location of the shooter.