British Army plans to start replacing its L85A3 assault rifles in 2025
The choice of the type and the caliber is considered likely to be influenced by the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program
Eyal Boguslavsky
| 15/08/2021
Photo: British Army
The British Army is planning to replace its L85A3 5.56mm assault rifles starting in 2025. As for the type and caliber of the future rifles, British analyst Nicholas Drummond tweeted last week that the U.S. Army's Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program is likely to influence the Army's choice.
The Army Recognition website said that the NGSW program is an iterative, prototyping effort to develop operationally relevant, squad-level lethality to combat proliferating threats, informed by U.S. soldier feedback. The prototyping effort consists of a standard rifle (NGSW-R) and an automatic rifle (NGSW-AR) with a common 6.8mm cartridge and fire control. The NGSW-R is the planned replacement for the M4A1 assault rifle, while the NGSW-AR is the planned replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, gas-operated light machine gun, according to the website.
The L85 is a variant of the SA80, a British-made 5.56mm NATO caliber bullpup assault rifle that has been used by the British Armed Forces since 1987. The L85A3, a more recent model with several improvements, was first issued to the Armed Forces in 2018.
The choice of the type and the caliber is considered likely to be influenced by the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program
Photo: British Army
The British Army is planning to replace its L85A3 5.56mm assault rifles starting in 2025. As for the type and caliber of the future rifles, British analyst Nicholas Drummond tweeted last week that the U.S. Army's Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program is likely to influence the Army's choice.
The Army Recognition website said that the NGSW program is an iterative, prototyping effort to develop operationally relevant, squad-level lethality to combat proliferating threats, informed by U.S. soldier feedback. The prototyping effort consists of a standard rifle (NGSW-R) and an automatic rifle (NGSW-AR) with a common 6.8mm cartridge and fire control. The NGSW-R is the planned replacement for the M4A1 assault rifle, while the NGSW-AR is the planned replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, gas-operated light machine gun, according to the website.
The L85 is a variant of the SA80, a British-made 5.56mm NATO caliber bullpup assault rifle that has been used by the British Armed Forces since 1987. The L85A3, a more recent model with several improvements, was first issued to the Armed Forces in 2018.
