New Zealand Defense Force upgrading Steyr AUGs
From MP.net:
However, although the 13,000 Steyr rifles which have been in service for 20 years, would not be replaced, they would be a significant part of the upgrade programme.
The study would look at modifying about 3000 of the 13,000 5.56mm rifles so they could take more fittings on the top rail, instead of the factory-fitted 1.5 magnification sighting system
The Australians already use a mixture of the AUGs with 1.5x sights and the ‘railed’ AUGs. I have always thought that the 1.5x scope was a bad compromise on an assault rifle. The target acquisition speed is less than a non magnified red dot sight (I have no experience with magnified red dot sights) but lacks the benefits of a more powerful scope. It must be working for the New Zealanders because they are only thinking about converting 23% of their rifles.
Australian Solider in Iraq with ADI Austeyr A3 that
comes fitted with a rail.
Hmm, why not upgrade to the Steyr Aug A3 with comes with the rails?
I could easily be wrong but I suspect NZ buys their weapons from the same place AU buy their weapons: ADI
ADI would probably upgrade to the A3
http://www.adi-limited.com/site.asp?page=148
The Australian Defence Force will be upgrading the steyr to the New A3 model by 2012, this can be found under Project 125 of the Research department of the Defence force.
Matt, I did some googling about “land 125″ and did not find anything about upgrading to the A3 or is it another project called “125″?
To clear up “125″ issues and confusion the A3 varient is to be upgraded to allow the firing of GLA and underslung shot gun attachment with the trigger finger. There is much speculation on INF 2012 weapon systems and the steyr will look marketly different. What is concrete is that what changes happen to the weapons system the it must have the same range or better and must not be any heavier than current weight with modifications. There is a photo around of an ugly australian modified A3, this is not the new rifle and was a test bed system and was a demo only. The ADF rumour mill is leaning more to the AUG A4 design as now Australia owns the rights of all world wide styer production and also pattened designs from Austria.
Matt, thanks for your interesting comment. I have posted it here:
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/08/28/steyr-aug-a4-adi-austeyr-f88-a4/
I’ve used the NZ AUG, yes they are AUSteyrs from ADI, not austrian made ones.
as to the comments about the 1.5x integral scope, They can be used both eyes open for rapid target engagement. It takes a bit of getting used to but it allows one to both have a wide field of view, and a bit more detail of the target. having a ring rather than cross hairs or dot also means when targetting it’s simple to focus on the point of aim within the ring, rather than covering something with a dot or centering crosshairs on the point of impact.
I was in the NZ Army just after they converted to the AUG Steyrs. The original ones they purchased were the true Austrian made Rifles and there were a few cases of the NZDF purchasing their ammo off the Australians and having barrel issues. Apparently the Aussie ammo had a minutely different projectile size…slightly larger and there were a few cases of barrel explosions and even barrels leaving weapons due to this issue.
In the end, the NZDF decided to purchase the Aussie Steyr to cut down on weapon cost and to guarantee there would be no more ammo issues.
It is a highly overrated assault rifle and if given the choice, I would rather throw stones at the enemy than carry that stoppage prone piece of crap.
Mac, very interesting. A good strategy for the Australians to sell more rifles!
Have to agree with Mac, used the aussie steyr in the NZ Army, and couldn’t believe how many stoppages I had. The accuracy on my issued rifle was terrible too. I’d have been lucky to hit the side of a barn. Unfortunately this is just the kind of reason I became disillusioned. Sending troops out with this junk, and spending far too much on LAVs. Alot of guys wanted to go back to the FALs than use the steyrs.