L85A3 Assault rifle

[Zarvan]

The L85A3 is a new British assault rifle, that was first revealed in 2016



Country of origin United Kingdom
Entered service ?
Caliber 5.56 x 45 mm
Weight (empty) ~ 4 kg
Weight (empty, with grenade launcher) ~ 5.5 kg
Length ~ 780 mm
Barrel length ~ 518 mm
Muzzle velocity ~ 900 m/s
Cyclic rate of fire ~ 650 rpm
Practical rate of fire 40 - 100 rpm
Magazine capacity 30 rounds
Sighting range ?
Range of effective fire 500 m


The L85A3 is a further upgraded variant of theL85A2 assault rifle, which is currently a standard-issue infantry weapon with the British Forces. It looks like it was developed as a part of future soldier program. A prototype of the L85A3 was first publicly revealed in 2016. It is a proposed upgrade for existing L85A2 rifles. The main goal was to extend service life of this weapon until 2025 and beyond. Despite all shortcomings of the L85 design, the British Forces are still using this weapons.

The L85A3 is a gas-operated, selective-fire weapon with a bullpup layout. The main advantage of the such layout is the overall compactness of the weapon. This assault rifle is chambered for the standard NATO 5.56x45 mm round. Internally this weapon is generally similar to the US Armalite AR-18. It follows the lines of the L85A2, but has some changes. The L85A3 has got a redesigned upper receiver and some other changes.

A fire mode selector is located well behind the magazine, on the left side of the receiver. It has settings for "semi-auto" and "full-auto". A separate safety button is located above the trigger. Though the L85A3 is not ambidextrous. Extraction is only to the right side.

This assault rifle is fed from a 30-round capacity magazines. A prototype of the L85A3, that was revealed in 2016, was fitted with a polymer magazine, developed by Magpul. These magazines were purchased as an urgent operational requirement for operations in Afghanistan. The magazine has a clear round counting window. This handy feature allows to see how much rounds are left in the magazine. This assault rifle is also compatible with other magazines, developed for the L85A2, including two types of steel magazines, used by the British Forces.

The new upper receiver comes with a full-length Picatinny type scope rail. It comes with new 4x magnification scope. The L85A3 can also mount various red dot or night vision sights. Also there are simple iron sights for emergency use. There is a tendency in with the British Forces, that second-line troops are issued with weapons that have only simple iron sights, without the scope. Range of effective fire is around 500 meters using the scope.

Also the L85A3 has got a new foregrip with accessory rails. It can mount various add-ons, such as vertical foregrip, tactical flashlight or laser pointer. The new weapon is compatible with German HK AG36 40 mm underbarrel grenade launcher. It was adopted by the British Forces as the L123A2. The same grenade launcher is used on the L85A2 assault rifle. The L85A2 is capable of launching rifle grenades, but only if the grenade launcher is not installed.

http://www.military-today.com/firearms/l85a3.htm

 

[Zarvan]

Why won’t you die? L85A3 prototype photos released to public

“Beneath this mask of a failed bullpup there is more than double feeds and malfunctions. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof, especially when they jam!”, in other words, the SA80/L85 bullpup rifle platform probably wouldn’t be too good at being in anti-establishment movies, considering that the platform itself is a product of the establishment. In all fairness, the L85A2 has come leaps and bounds since its problem years in the 1990s and early in the British involvement of OIF, or Op Telic.

This week at the Defense Vehicle Dynamics exposition held in Millbrook Proving Ground outside of the town of Bedford in the U.K, the MoD was showcasing a prototype of what might become the L85A3 to the public. Combat & Survival wrote about it, and it looks like they erroneously labeled it as the SA80A3 when in fact the British Army is on the L85A2, not the SA80A2. From their posting-

Part of a feasibility study for the SA80A2 Mid Life Improvement project, which aims to prolong the in-service life of the UK Forces’ 5.56mm weapon beyond its 2025 OSD, the A3 prototype includes a number of modifications including:-.
¤ a safety stud placed above the change lever on the trigger mechanism housing to ensure that this lever does not over-rotate,
¤ the Weaver rail on top of the upper receiver being taken off and a full length Picatinny rail fitted – this will allow day sight and night sight to be mounted in tandem,
¤ a new foregrip, or quadrail, as part of the new full-length rail which will be attached slightly differently to the current one allowing the barrel to be more free-floating than at present to improve accuracy and consistency,
¤ redesign of the A3 upper receiver for improved reliability and maintainability over the current A2 variant,
¤ and colour change to Matt Earth for better compatibility with MTP camouflage uniforms.

At this stage the A3 model, of which ten prototypes have been produced, is a feasibility study but as much of the A2 stocks have seen extensive combat service in Iraq &/or Afghanistan since introduction in late 2001 they deserve a speedy upgrade.

So really the changes we are looking at here are modifications to the upper receiver and the handguard. The handguard and combined full length rail system probably have the largest changes, finish to Matte Earth (didn’t realize that color existed prior to this article, can’t find any examples on it elsewhere), side rails to what appear to be Key Mod, back up iron sights, a much more slimmer and modular quad railsystem (to include the Key Mod), full length rail system, and then some internal changes to the design. The ensuing pictures come from ThinkDefense, a UK based defense blog.



Bare in mind that all these upgrades are apart of a Mid Life improvement program, so this doesn’t even mean the MoD will be getting a new rifle, it just means they will be updating the L85A2s they have now to A3 versions. In addition, these are just prototypes so the final changes might not have anything to actually do with what we see here. The article mentions this is supposed to get the military to 2025, so if Britain is in the ballpark of a new rifle competition then, it’ll be an interesting turnout. In addition to the above statement, we have these details about the modification of the rifle–

The Dismounted Close Combat Programme team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to place a contract for the Equipped to Fight Improvement (EFI) programme for the modification of 5 000 SA80 weapons with Heckler & Koch GMBH & Co for work to be completed by March 2017. The estimated contract value is 2 700 000 GBP. The contract will require the supplier to modify the existing SA80 A2 weapon by fitting a combination of new and modified components. Specific tolerances of materials are needed along with exact dimensions and surface finishes on the components to allow for interoperability with the existing system, particularly when managing the variable interface caused by differing rates of wear of existing components which are recycled as part of the programme. There are very high risks involved in managing the variable tolerances and manufacturing processes when combining new and existing weapon components.





In case you need getting caught up, here is an example of an earlier L85A2 that was rebuilt by H&K, compared to the L85A2, which is currently in use across the MoD. Notice the change in scope from the SUSAT, Trijicon, and the Elcan in the pictures above. Currently the MoD actually uses all three scopeswithin the rifle inventory. With the exception of any of Britains SF (SBS, SAS, and some of the Paras and Royal Marine Fleet Security Force), which are much more interested in the AR platform than a committee designed rifle.



And this is the original SA80 from the 1980s as issued. In fact the name SA80 comes from Small Arms of the 80s.


A close-up view of a British SA-80 fully assembled.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/09/12/wont-die-l85a3-prototypes-released-public/

 

[masud]

i don,t like this.............