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From: aag@compsci.aberystwyth.ac.uk
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Small Arms
Message-ID: <1991Mar8.023724.10739@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 8 Mar 91 02:37:24 GMT
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From: aag@compsci.aberystwyth.ac.uk

In article 8677 of sci.military:
scott@swindle.Berkeley.EDU (Scott Silvey) comments:


>   I noticed some scenes of British infantry scouting out an Iraqi bunker
>   for hostiles ... they tossed in a grenade.  They were carrying a
>   very modern looking assault rifle that I've never seen before.  It
>   was sand colored and had the magazine (and I assume the firing
>   mechanism) BEHIND the pistol grip.  This makes the weapon somewhat
>   short I assume.  Can anyone explain what rifle this is?  Is it 
>   standard issue now?  When did they get it?  How does it compare
>   with the M16A2?

Its the standard Army issue Enfield SA80 (Bullpup) 5.65mm combat
rifle. After extensive testing in the late seventies and early
eighties (every so often a picture would show up on the news or
in a science and technology programme of a squaddie in Belfast
or at Bisley with something that was not a 7.62 FN-FAL wearing 
a very _worried_ expression), the Army chose it to replace the
FN-FAL and it was introduced in about 1985 and has now completely
replaced the FAL. 

Its said to be a very nice rifle indeed, although it has caused
horrible problems with drill wherever it goes. Its considerably
shorter than the FAL and its butt doesn't reach the ground in
"Stand at Ease", so the Army had to rewrite the drill book.

I suspect that the sand colouring was masking tape as the
examples I've seen have tended to be either uniformly
grey/black or green/black camo in colour.

As for comparison with the M16A2, well, we didn't buy it . . .

Angela

E aag@aber.cs (UK)       \S  Ms A M Gilham               \V
M aag@cs.aber.ac.uk (inet)\N  Dept of Computer Science    \O  +44
A ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-cs-aag\A  University College of Wales,\I  970 622449
I           (uucp)          \I  Aberyswyth, Dyfed.          \C
L                            \L  SY23 3BZ. UK                \E