UK Military

Originally posted by danwild6
Under Armed Forces regulations the Army cannot operate fixed wing aircraft. Thats the USAF's job. They can't even operate the A-10 and that is entirely a ground support aircraft. And Janus is right the Royal Army needs a new rifle. So does the US Army for that matter. It would be great if we both opted for the M-468.

[edit on 27-9-2005 by danwild6]

[edit on 27-9-2005 by danwild6]

The SA-80 is a fine weapon, I've used it for years and only jammed when I didnt cock it hard enough.
BTW mate the royal army got disbanded when they mutinied.
The army needs a new rifle or atleast get HK to fix it even more.

Its a fine weapon if its the only one you have used, bring back the SLR i say

I'm hoping they can hop on the wagon for the new H&K since we are so close to the U.S. at the moment.

We do need to upgrade are kit every once in a while, however the Government hate having to spend more and more additional money.

SA80In 1997 the SA80 was dropped from NATO's list of approved weapons, following which an upgrade programme was started. In 2000 Heckler & Koch, at that time owned by Royal Ordnance, were contracted to fix the problems. Two hundred thousand SA80s were remanufactured at a cost of £400 each producing the A2 variant of the weapon. By 2002 the upgraded versions were deployed in first line formations. The upgrade involved replacement of many internal parts and has greatly increased reliability. In March 2005 the L85A2 was put through its paces against the M16 M4 AK47 AN-94 and G36 rifles. It outperformed all of them in accuracy (even without the SUSATs) and reload speed (physically changing magazine on the move and static), and all but the AK47 in reliability on multiple terrain, weather and climatic senarios. This showed up both the M16 and the new M4 as dangerously out of touch. Weight is left as the SA80's only real drawback and so the carbine variant has also been redeveloped with a 20-round magazine, and will enter service as a self-defence weapon for British Army tank crews during 2005.

Originally posted by Janus
Its a fine weapon if its the only one you have used, bring back the SLR i say

I agree, bring back the SLR. 5.56 is too small a round.
BTW, I've used over 3 diffrent rifles...

[edit on 26/02/2005 by devilwasp]

Heheh i was just pulling your leg mate
The SA80 was always a very accurate rifle, i could consistantly drop targets at 600 yards with it no problem, the SUSAT ( Sight Unit Small Arms Trilux for all you geeks out there ) is an exellent sight unit and virtually sqaddie proof. The thing i always hated about it compared to the SLR was that it felt like a toy, it just felt very flimsy to me.
The plastic felt cheap and the gas parts clogged up very quickly and were a sod to clean. There were a lot of parts that were small and fiddly, the firing pin retaining pin springs to mind.
The metal housing felt cheap as well and the bloody dust cover was forever breaking off. The magazine release catch was on the wrong side and when it was modified to have a sheild around it if you had big thumbs like i have you would some times struggle to change mags in a hurry and forget about changing the mag with gloves on.
But because the Rifle was designed by marksmen it was very accurate but not sqaddie proof.
It didnt perform well in muddy, dusty or cold conditions jams were common.
Now this was the first run of the rifle, i havent used the new one, got out before the recall so im sure that most of these problems have been resolved now.
The thing is that it just dont pack enough punch, 5.56 high velocity rounds just dont cut it for me, i personaly think we should go back to the old 7.62 round.
The SA80 is great for target shooting but i would prefer to have the old SLR for real world situations like Iraq.

Originally posted by devilwasp

The SA-80 is a fine weapon, I've used it for years and only jammed when I didnt cock it hard enough.
BTW mate the royal army got disbanded when they mutinied.
The army needs a new rifle or atleast get HK to fix it even more.

I wasn't saying that the SA-80 isn't a good rifle(I'm well aware of its advantages as well as its drawbacks). Oh and please forgive me for my poor knowledge of your history(I have enough difficulty with the history of my own people and thats a much shorter history).