SA80

The SA80 is a British family of bullpup-configuration 5.56x45mm NATO service weapons developed by the Royal Small Arms Factory and Royal Ordnance, later part of BAE Systems, with prototype work beginning in 1976, production starting in 1985 and the L85 rifle variant becoming the standard-issue service rifle of the British armed forces in 1987, replacing the earlier L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. Gas-operated with a rotating bolt and fed from 30-round magazines, the L85 fires at a rate of roughly 610 to 775 rounds per minute to an effective range of about 400 meters, and the wider SA80 family also includes light support and carbine variants alongside a version built for cadet training. Early L85 rifles suffered a persistent reputation for unreliability, prompting a major A2 upgrade program carried out between 2000 and 2006 that substantially improved the weapon's dependability, followed by a further A3 upgrade introduced in 2018 adding improved modularity and ergonomics.