In the coming years, the British will abandon their SA80 small arms complex and L85 submachine guns in particular. Yesterday, August 7, the portal armyrecognition.com he said that the re-equipment could begin as early as 2025.
The British Ministry of Defense has not yet announced a tender, since they will focus on the results of the American NGSW program. Thus, the British will not only change weapons, but also, most likely, switch to a new caliber-6.8 mm.
British soldiers with L85A3 submachine guns
Image source: facebook.com/thegrenadierguards
SA80 (Small Arms for 1980) is a British small arms complex developed by Royal Ordnance in 1984. The complex includes an L85 submachine gun, an L86 light machine gun, a shortened L22 submachine gun and an L98 training rifle. At the same time, the name SA80 most often means L85 automata. Due to frequent complaints about the unreliability of the L85 automatic machine in 2000, the German company Heckler & Koch upgraded it (a new modification entered service with the British army under the name L85A2). In 2018, the British Army began to receive an updated SA80A3 rifle complex.