Do you need to play COOP in order to unlock the SG553 in Battlefield 3?

In battlefield 3, do you need to unlock the SG553 in COOP, or is it available in the multiplayer engineer tree? I know it used to be only COOP, but i heard they patched it to be different. Has anyone been able to unlock this weapon without using COOP?Do you need to play COOP in order to unlock the SG553 in Battlefield 3?
You need to play co-op for it, i suggest to farm mission 1 because it the easiest.



They patched the points overall required to get each weapon because originally the amount it took was alot of games before you can get even one weapon.



It should at less take you 5-9 games of mission 1 to get the gun.Do you need to play COOP in order to unlock the SG553 in Battlefield 3?
Im almost certain you do, that's what I did to unlock all the weapons they have set as unlocks for co-op. I saw someone suggested to farm level 1, but I think you're way better off farming the second mission, "Fire From the Sky" for two reasons.

1) Once you start multiplayer, you're probably going to want to fly the attack choppers and the co-op mission (2nd one) is a perfect way to practice without hurting your K/D And SPM, that and without.....pissing everyone off......I cant stand it when someone takes the heli in conquest and turns it to fiery scrap metal, but that's a whole other story.

2) You get a LOT more points for completing a round of Fire From the Sky than for completing Operation Exodus.....anytime......
I usually score between 12-14 thousand a round in Fire from the Sky vs. 9,000 to maybe 11,000 on Exodus. Time is money, or um.....unlock points so why not kill two birds with one stone, If you use the second mission you'll

-get nasty at flying the attack chopper
-rack up more points
-finish the whole thing faster

There is also a video online showing that you can pick up the weapons from dead enemies on some of the later levels and that they will then show up as available in your load-out....