Posted on 07/21/2002 5:54:16 PM PDT by aculeus
Defence ministers are under pressure to scrap the troubled SA-80 rifle after an inspection team sent to Afghanistan found that, even after a refit, major faults still needed rectifying if it was to be used in combat again.
The modified SA-80 has to be cleaned five times a day, according to Royal Marines officers The original SA-80, produced by Royal Ordnance, jammed repeatedly under fire in Sierra Leone and the Balkans. As a result, Heckler and Koch was paid £92 million to modify the weapon.
But defence sources said the modifications had made the weapon virtually unusable in many combat situations. Now it is thought likely that ministers will decide that they must cut their losses and go for the Heckler and Koch G36 assault rifle.
Its cost could be reduced if it is established that Heckler and Koch failed to produce a modified weapon that worked.
Earlier this month an MoD inspection team flew to Afghanistan amid reports of a number of stoppages affecting Royal Marine commandos hunting al-Qa'eda fighters.
The team, including two experts from Heckler and Koch, was horrified to find the problem was far worse than previously thought.
A demonstration by a company of Marines returning from a mission showed a third of the companies' rifles, between 30 and 40, not working properly.
The Marines were told to treat their return to Bagram by Chinook helicopter as a landing in a hostile environment. The whole exercise was filmed.
As the helicopters landed at Bagram, throwing up a huge dust cloud, the Marines poured out of the helicopters and ran to the firing range to fire their weapons.
Problems they encountered ranged from stoppages caused by dust in the rifle's working parts to magazines falling off. Even those who managed to fire their rifles had to work hard to get the safety catches off.
There was a stand-up row at a meeting in the MoD last week when a senior Army officer accused the Marines of causing the stoppages by not keeping their weapons clean.
Royal Marines officers dismissed the claim, saying that the modified weapon was too high-maintenance and they had been forced to clean it as often as five times a day.
One said: "If you're jumping out of a Chinook into that kind of heat and dust, it wouldn't matter how clean the rifle was beforehand. The minute you got off, it would be covered in shit."
Heckler and Koch experts identified five serious problems needing to be rectified:
The oil's ability to lubricate the weapon is breaking down in the high temperatures; The impossibility of switching off the safety catch under fire;
Too much dust getting into the magazines, preventing them from putting rounds in the rifle chamber;
Too much dust getting into the rifle itself. Experts suggested a protective cover over the working parts;
The magazine is not robust enough and even the tiniest dent prevents it from staying on the rifle.
Following last week's MoD meeting, the initial findings of the inspection team have been sent to ministers.
With British troops facing action in Iraq, they will not be sent into battle with a rifle that does not work and ministers look likely to kill off the SA-80 as an expensive failure.
• The RAF is considering buying a pilotless combat aircraft amid further problems with the Eurofighter that look likely to add more delays to delivery of the first aircraft.
The Boeing X-45 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle will be able to drop smart bombs at half the price and a quarter of the running costs of conventional aircraft.
The pilotless "killer drone" would form part of the RAF's Future Offensive Aircraft System, which would be a mix of conventional aircraft, like the Eurofighter and cruise missiles and unmanned ground attack aircraft like X-45.
Not a sniper rifle, but fires every time you pull the trigger, even when full of dirt and gunk.
If this thing doesn’t work it isn’t a assault rifle it’s a club. Surely the MoD isn’t going to pay for the replacement weapons.?
Found this cut-away in an old book.
The SA-80. Shame of the British Army.
[Thanks to Freeper wretchard for the link.]
</CENTERFrench design? Are you thinking about the FAMAS?
Who did what to who in WWI? Do you mean the Ross rifle?
Hound the Afghans with something bigger than that Poodle Shooter Let's see where did we put those......
Hound the Afghans with something bigger than that Poodle Shooter Let's see where did we put those......
It's a cultural thing. Societies where damn few people legally own guns - and most of the very few who do are grandees who never see combat and whose "guns" are double-barrel shotguns only used in good conditions - don't produce John Brownings or Eugene Stoners.
Also the phenolic magazines seem to grow fuzzy (actually larger in some cases as observed with Canadian (eh) C-7 magazines) with wear and tear in sand and dirt over time, I'll stick with my Supermatch M1A & 1911A1 if I get recalled (fat chance....:o)
Stay Safe
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