AR-15 Rifles For The British Armed Forces

 

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Joe Cater,Crown Copyright

 

The Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Transformation) at the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence,General Stephen Laughter who is soon to retire and take up a post with a small arms manufacturer in the United States of America,has chosen game-changing AR-15 rifles to replace the SA80 family of weapons currently in service with the Royal Navy,British Army and Royal Air Force going forward,a decision he described as a no-brainer,he added that procurement of this sixty year old design demonstrated a commitment to modernisation in the face of an increasingly dangerous security environment and that in an era of ever closer military integration using the same weapon as key allies shall be transformational.

 

The Transformational ArmaLite Rifle

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Fleet Photographic Unit photograph,© IWM FKD 2032

 

The United Kindom's armed forces began using Eugene Stoner's AR-15 rifle sixty years ago,not long after it had been purchased by it's first customer the Federation of Malaya,and before it was adopted by the forces of the United States of America as the M16 rifle,in the decades since then the rifle and it's shorter cousin the M4 carbine have developed a reputation for inadequate reliability,inadequate lethality and inadequate range,despite numerous upgrades.

  

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Joe Cater,Crown Copyright

 

For decades the United States' Army has been trying to replace it's ArmaLite rifles,most recently under the Next Generation Squad Weapon Program,the United States Special Operations Command adopted the Fabrique Nationale Special Operation Forces Combat Assault Rifle,the United States' Joint Special Operations Command adopted the Heckler & Koch HK416 and the United States' Marine Corps has already begun to replace it's M16s and M4s with the Heckler & Koch M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle (like the British L85A3,the FN SCAR,HK416 and M27 all use a short stroke piston to cycle the action rather than the AR-15's direct impingement system),but while it would cost little to design a modern rifle for the British armed forces some think it would be transformational to adopt a sixty year old weapon with a reputation for inadequate reliability,lethality and range instead.