Defence officials debate future of SA-80 rifle
Staff and agencies
Tuesday September 17, 2002
The Guardian

Defence officials today insisted no decision has yet been made over the future of the troubled SA-80 assault rifle in spite of reports that it will not scrap the gun.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said a report that it is on the verge of announcing that it will keep the rifle was "speculative" and that a report on the weapon was not likely to be published until the end of next week.

He said: "We have always said that we have been testing it in stringent battlefield conditions using weapons experts in conjunction with the manufacturers so that we can compare maintenance procedures."

The tests on the rifle have followed complaints that the upgraded SA-80 A2 version jammed and misfired in dusty desert conditions during operations in Afghanistan.

Officials had blamed the failure of the rifle in the field on problems with cleaning.

In June 2000 the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced a £92m upgrade of the rifle. It has been beset by problems since it entered service in 1988 and has been upgraded several times.
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IT'S REPLACEMENT, CURRENTLY IN USE

http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/lady...arlierifle.jpg

[ 03-16-2003, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: Charlie ]

You just can't beat that price. :D

I want one! But without the sodacan, that would be very un-LoA-like. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Must be a beercan

Notice the professional use of duct tape again ;)

The barrel looks a little weak thow... and the jamming problem is very easy to spot.-
Mango Mike's has a surf and turf on thursdays, I think. Remember that everyone!

Maybe someone should look for a money trail from Heckler and Koch to people in the Ministry of Defense. Or maybe it's just a case of not wanting to admit being wrong. Like the Defense Department and the V-22 Osprey.

If this is what some our allies are using, Iraq and its broom wielding senior citizens might be a tougher fight than previously considered :D

They tried a beercan but found the bullet weaved its way to the target.

Is that a rifle or a sculpture - or am I just totally oblivious to a missing subtitle? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Sculpture. Art doesn't usually instill terror into the hearts of those who view it. But then, neither does the 'birdman'.

Listen, HK did what they could, and the weapon just plain sucks. It'd be like giving them Lee Enfields and wanting Mausers back. The weapon is a flat out piece of junk, unless they begin importing AK-101 or G-36 rifles, or look to the old EM-2, they're screwed.