Neil Grant - SA80 Assault Rifles

The MoD was caught wrong-footed when the classified LANDSET report was leaked to the press, and initially dismissed it as ‘a fake’ before reluctantly admitting that it was genuine. The MoD continued to downplay the report’s significance, however, both in the press and to a subsequent Defence Select Committee.

The SA80 weapons saw relatively little combat during the First Gulf War, since British infantry only deployed from their Warrior IFVs when Iraqi positions needed to be cleared. Fears over the possible use of chemical weapons meant that most British troops went into action wearing their NBC suits, many of which were in temperate rather than desert DPM material. Fears that wearing the protective suits would lead to heat exhaustion were quickly dispelled, as the invasion took place in some of the coldest weather the region had seen in decades, and many troops actually found themselves glad of the suits for warmth. The soldiers wear Combat Body Armour and Personal Load-Carrying Equipment (PLCE) webbing – note the extra magazine pouches worn by the LSW gunner, who would expect to use up his ammunition faster.

This four-man infantry ‘brick’ has the standard mix of three L85A1 IWs plus an L86A1 LSW, though LSW gunners in some bricks exchanged their weapons for their Warrior driver’s L85A1 since it was handier for trench-clearing and could take a bayonet. The second man hasn’t fixed his bayonet so that he can quickly slide an L60A1 Close Assault Weapon (CLAW) rifle grenade over the flash hider if necessary. The black tape holding the forestock of his rifle together was a commonly seen field repair. The last man is assigned to watch the brick’s rear – enemies can appear unexpectedly from behind during trench-clearing.

Although British troops deployed on peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo throughout the 1990s, these deployments never escalated into actual combat, so once again the SA80’s fitness for purpose was not tested. Troops also continued to provide ‘aid to the civil power’ in Northern Ireland as part of Operation Banner until this finally came to an end in 2007. Weapons were rarely fired in anger on Internal Security tours, but the SA80’s compact size was ideal for operations that involved a great deal of urban patrolling and deploying from vehicles. There was considerable criticism, however, that the rifle only being usable from the right shoulder sometimes prevented soldiers making the best use of cover from doorways and street corners.

The SA80 did see combat in Sierra Leone after eleven soldiers from The Royal Irish Regiment and their local liaison officer were taken hostage by a local militia gang – the West Side Boys – in September 2000. Negotiators were able to secure the release of six of the men before their captors’ demands became increasingly unrealistic. A rescue – Operation Barras – was mounted by the SAS, supported by a reinforced company from 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. They conducted a helicopter assault, defeated the West Side Boys and rescued the British soldiers, along with more than 20 local civilians also held by the gang. Although the SAS troops were not armed with SA80s, the paratroopers were, and two suffered severe malfunctions with their weapons. Fortunately, neither man was injured as a result, though the incident did further harm to the SA80’s reputation when the Daily Mail newspaper ran the story on 1 August 2000 under the headline ‘Paras Face Death as Rifles Jam in Firefight with Rebels’. It emerged that the push-through safety plungers on the prototype weapons had been manufactured from solid nylon rod, before being thoroughly tested to ensure that they were not affected by heat, cold or immersion. These had been replaced on the production weapons by safety plungers manufactured from cheaper injection-moulded plastic, however, apparently without anyone realizing that the plastic swelled when wet, rendering the rifle inoperative.

By 2000, it was obvious that something had to be done, both to fix the real problems with the weapon and to build troops’ confidence in it. The MoD contracted with Heckler & Koch – then part of the British BAE Systems’ Royal Ordnance division – to have the existing stock of SA80s shipped to Germany and rebuilt in an attempt to fix the problems. Heckler & Koch used high-speed cameras to record the firing cycle of the weapon and then developed a package of modifications in six key areas:

(1) Rounds often failed to feed from both British- and US-designed magazines, as the magazine platform could cant to one side and present cartridges at erratic angles. A more robust magazine was developed with a redesigned follower which caused fewer misfeeds.

(2) Friction among the moving parts – particularly the bolt and carrier – meant that there was sometimes not enough power to cycle the action properly, especially with heavily fouled weapons. The contact areas were given a highly polished finish to reduce friction.

(3) The springs within the working parts were not strong enough and sometimes failed to return parts to their original positions. The springs were replaced with stronger equivalents.

(4) Extraction and ejection were improved by fitting a more robust extractor claw, a modified and enlarged ejection opening and a new dished ‘paddle’-shaped cocking handle that deflected spent cartridge cases away from both the weapon and the user’s face.

(5) A new barrel was developed for the LSW, using better materials and chromed internally for longer life and greater heat resistance.

(6) Finally, a number of components prone to breakage, including parts of the trigger mechanism, were modified to make them more robust.

Although these changes improved the weapon significantly, the upgrade had to work within the constraints of the existing design, which meant some problems could not be fixed. Most notably, the reciprocating cocking handle inevitably meant that the long, open slot in the side of the body it travelled in remained a potential entry point for dirt.

The upgraded weapons began troop trials in 2001, and scored much better in tests of reliability across all climates; indeed, the weapons now exceeded the original MRBF targets by a considerable margin without the figures needing to be manipulated. Stoppages also decreased markedly, though reliability scores in hot, dusty environments were still notably poorer than for other environments. The upgraded weapons became the new standard issue in 2002 as the L85A2 IW and L86A2 LSW, respectively. Initially, the Army planned to have all 300,000 weapons still in service rebuilt to the new standard, but this soon dropped to 200,000 weapons, apparently on the grounds of cost. About 20,000 of the weapons not upgraded were stripped for use as spares, while the remaining 80,000 were offered for sale to a number of foreign governments. Little overseas interest seems to have been shown, however, and it is likely that these weapons will either be upgraded at some future point or (more probably) also used for spares.