UK Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Abominable said:

Seems to be optimistic thinking given what's going on in Europe right now.

I just realised, 10,000 rifles for £90 million, that's £9,000 per rifle. Are they made out of gold or something?

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For custom rifles like this, parts are essentially artisanal. Even for large, well-known parts manufacturers like say... Daniel Defense.

Look at this factory tour.
Look at the equipment, the layout, and arrangement of rifle components. This is not a high-volume, automated assembly process. And the manufacturer of this new UK rifle, Knight's Armament, is going to be operating similarly to Daniel Defense.

And a lot of the things that Western Armies like to brag about, particularly well-designed, high quality, and highly ergonomic infantry equipment, is manufactured precisely in places like this.

Many parts of Western weapons kit are exactly like these new UK rifles, manufactured in tiny factories, in limited quantities, and stockpiled over many years.

Abominable said:

So not a bullpup? Also interesting they are sticking with the 5.56mm.

Only 10,000 over 10 years? LOL

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The rifle is actually for the newly established.Ranger.battalions and Army Commandos, not your average grunt as evidenced in this quote in.the article:

An initial £15 million order of 1,620 AIW systems has been placed, with options to procure up to 10,000 systems – totalling £90 million - under the contract over the next decade. The systems will initially be fielded to the Army Special Operations Brigade (ASOB) who operate in complex, high threat environments.

In addition, in the article these rifles will.be supplementing the L85A3, rather than outright replacing it.

This rifle is just another example of the NATO militaries' obsession with SOF.

HighGround said:

For custom rifles like this, parts are essentially artisanal. Even for large, well-known parts manufacturers like say... Daniel Defense.

Look at this factory tour.

Look at the equipment, the layout, and arrangement of rifle components. This is not a high-volume, automated assembly process. And the manufacturer of this new UK rifle, Knight's Armament, is going to be operating similarly to Daniel Defense.

And a lot of the things that Western Armies like to brag about, particularly well-designed, high quality, and highly ergonomic infantry equipment, is manufactured precisely in places like this.

Many parts of Western weapons kit are exactly like these new UK rifles, manufactured in tiny factories, in limited quantities, and stockpiled over many years.

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If rifles aren't high volume, pretty much nothing is.

A standard AR type rifle that this rifle is based on is what $500? Probably even cheaper. What is being bought here that justifies a 20x price increase? Optics and a suppressor can cost a bit, but are not that expensive.

Abominable said:

What is being bought here that justifies a 20x price increase?

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I can see that rifle getting so full of dirt and mud in real war situation... but you know, Killer look !

Abominable said:

If rifles aren't high volume, pretty much nothing is.

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There are factories capable of high volume production in United States, and most recently the US Army did issue a contract for the Sig Sauer M17 handgun. Hundreds of thousands of handguns to be delivered within 10 years.

Abominable said:

A standard AR type rifle that this rifle is based on is what $500? Probably even cheaper. What is being bought here that justifies a 20x price increase? Optics and a suppressor can cost a bit, but are not that expensive.

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The reason for the cost, is the high level of precision and consistency offered by the heavily modified AR platform. The necessary upgrades have a high amount of manual labor and required man hours to machine.

I've said it elsewhere, but optics and suppressors really aren't all that complicated... DSLR cameras are much more complicated and they can cost less than a high quality optic. The difference in price is due to scale of production.

High quality firearm accessories are niche items and thus cannot achieve proper economies of scale to bring the price significantly down.

Atomicfrog said:

They have two carriers...two nonworking carrier. One that got cannibalized for parts before completion and the other that got messed up and is in dry dock... UK carriers are near the silly level of Russian carrier.

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Both the UK carriers are currently deployed and working (HMS PoW on Westland 23 and HMS QE on CSG23).

Atomicfrog said:

I can see that rifle getting so full of dirt and mud in real war situation... but you know, Killer look !

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Most actual soldier don’t do mud tests or allow there weapons to be buried in dirt.
additionally a spec of dust Jamming an AR is a myth.

LawLeadsToPeace said:

The rifle is actually for the newly established.Ranger.battalions and Army Commandos, not your average grunt as evidenced in this quote in.the article:

An initial £15 million order of 1,620 AIW systems has been placed, with options to procure up to 10,000 systems – totalling £90 million - under the contract over the next decade. The systems will initially be fielded to the Army Special Operations Brigade (ASOB) who operate in complex, high threat environments.

In addition, in the article these rifles will.be supplementing the L85A3, rather than outright replacing it.

This rifle is just another example of the NATO militaries' obsession with SOF.

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Also going to Royal Marine Commandos.

Abominable said:

So not a bullpup? Also interesting they are sticking with the 5.56mm.

Only 10,000 over 10 years? LOL

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it’s a specialist weapon not standard issue LULZ.
The MOD specifically wanted an AR based rifle because of the superior ergonomics and ability to adopt accessories.
As to sticking with 5.56 it’s still the NATO standard.

9,000 pound sterling price would be the package deal. That is one Rifle, One suppressor, one blank firing adapter, one Vortex 1-10x LPVO, one Aimpoint ACRO P2 micro dot, magpul BUIS, multiple Magpul PMAGs. Additional accessories like foregrips, tactical touch, simunition kit and protective mask, collar and groin guards. You can probably add in MOD armory training, spare parts, documentation and packaging. Just taking the projected total and dividing up always ends up wrong if you’re only assuming the product price without considering the rest of the package.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Most actual soldier don’t do mud tests or allow there weapons to be buried in dirt.
additionally a spec of dust Jamming an AR is a myth.

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In a war they will meet mud and dirt... but yeah if they remain in the UK in peace time they will be surely okay. You can see in Ukraine trenches what the condition a rifle go through in a war.

Atomicfrog said:

In a war they will meet mud and dirt... but yeah if they remain in the UK in peace time they will be surely okay. You can see in Ukraine trenches what the condition a rifle go through in a war.

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Actually, I have seen footage of a Ukrainian volunteer soldier performing mobile defense with his squad and rapidly shooting the M4, and I didnt see jams during that engagement. While it is only one clip, it does show them at the very least working. In addition, InRangeTV perforomed a nasty mud test upon the AR15 that even jammed the AK, and the AR15 did exceptionally well thanks to its tight seal.

LawLeadsToPeace said:

Actually, I have seen footage of a Ukrainian volunteer soldier performing mobile defense with his squad and rapidly shooting the M4, and I didnt see jams during that engagement. While it is only one clip, it does show them at the very least working. In addition, InRangeTV perforomed a nasty mud test upon the AR15 that even jammed the AK, and the AR15 did exceptionally well thanks to its tight seal.

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I'm talking incredible build-up of crap between that barrel and fancy hangrip and suppressor.... all these artifice are insane dirt trap. Nowhere I have talked about jam... These gun will become mudballs, probably good for enhancing camo.