The Cove is an Australian Army blog that covers everything related to soldiering. In a recent series of posts, author Solomon Birch took an in-depth look into the previously issued EF88 bullpup rifle. Mr. Birch used the M4 rifle as a comparative baseline. The EF88 [Read More…]
Thales Australia have teamed up with Indian corporation, the Kalyani Group, to submit the F90CQB bullpup to fulfil India’s 5.56x45mm carbine requirement. The partnership also spans Thales’ other products including the Hawkei protected mobility vehicle and [Read More…]
The Atrax bullpup rifle was developed as a semi-automatic version of the Australian Defense Force’s F90. Lithgow Arms has been planning to sell the Atrax on the civilian market in the United States since 2016. However, a spokesman for Thales, the company that [Read More…]
The 40x46mm low-velocity SL40 grenade launcher has been in Australian Defence Force service for some time now, serving primarily as a modular under-barrel grenade launcher attached to the 5.56x45mm NATO F90 service rifle within the infantry at the squad or section [Read More…]
The Australian Defence Force has announced it will trial the Israeli SMASH computer aided sighting system from Smart Shooter. Smart Shooter, based in Yagur, Israel, offer a range of rifle mounted electro-optical fire control systems. The company claims that by [Read More…]
MKU Ltd. and Thales have announced that they will work together to enter India’s Close Quarter Battle Rifle trials. The announcement came on the 10th April, at Defexpo 2018, as the two companies signed two memorandums of understanding (MoU) for strategic [Read More…]
Good news for bullpup fanatics: The Lithgow F90, Australia’s improved version of the AUG, is in production in the USA right now under the name “Atrax”. Representatives of Dasan USA, the stateside manufacturer/importer, said that major components of the [Read More…]
The Steyr AUG is not dead! The latest iteration, the Thales F90MBR (Modular Bullpup Rifle) was announced just before DSEi and as expected was on display. Our good friend Lionel took these photos of the modular bullpup. The F90MBR is claimed to be one of the lightest [Read More…]
Thales Australia has launched the newest update to its F90 bullpup assault rifle, at DSEI 2017. The weapon, which is the pre-production version of the prototype F90 Export shown off at IDEX 2017, sports a host of improved features versus both the legacy AUG and the [Read More…]
Josh Whi, over at Lithgow Arms USA , clued me in that they have launched a new website and they are taking pre-orders right now for the ATRAX. The Lithgow ATRAX was recently in the new Aliens Covenant movie. According to Josh, the pre-orders will ship in September 2017. [Read More…]
Recently, I wrote an article about one negative aspect of bullpups which is caused by their much-touted rearward balance. Even though its scope was extremely limited, this article caused a lot of discontent in my comments section, and many of my readers expressed a [Read More…]
The Firearm Blog would like to extend its thanks to reader and contributor Giorgio, who lent his journalistic services to us at this years IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi in February. Thanks, Giorgio! At the 2017 International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX), [Read More…]
The bullpup rifle tends to be – when it comes up – a pretty divisive subject among “tactical” rifle shooters. Bullpup detractors dismiss the layout as clunky and awkward, while its proponents cite the advantage of longer barrels and shorter [Read More…]
While the primary consumer of PMAGs continues to be the general American shooting public, various companies and countries have paid close attention to the success of the polymer magazine “PMag” offered by MagPul. The magazine’s success has not been by [Read More…]
Big news at the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting 2016, importer Lithgow Arms USA will be bringing the EF88/F90 improved bullpup assault rifle to the USA. The F90 is a variant of the Steyr AUG developed for the Australian Defence Force to replace the F88 (their [Read More…]
News from IWA 2016, Lithgow Arms, the small arms division of Australian defense conglomerate Thales, and former government arsenal, has announced that they will be offering a semiautomatic version of their F90 military rifle for the law enforcement/police market, as a [Read More…]
The Australian Army’s program to produce a successor to the F88 “Austeyr” is on the verge of bearing fruit. Army.gov.au reports that the F90, formerly designated “EF88” is now being issued for trials, in preparation for final modifications [Read More…]
The Australian Defense Force have awarded Thales a contract to produce an unspecified number of Thales F90 rifles for them. The F90 is a modernized Steyr AUG. Jane’s reports… Thales Australia has received a low rate initial production (LRIP) contract [Read More…]
Jenzen-Jones had an opportunity to shoot Thales’ new EF88 (F90) rifle at Lithgow arms factory. I love the two-tone color combination of the olive green stock with tan metal finish. As superficial as it is, I am a sucker for a nicely finished gun.
Lusaka, our man in Paris, had the opportunity to closely examine and review the brand new Thales/Steyr F90 rifle. [ Just to avoid confusion: the EF-88 is an experimental designation for the next-gen rifle being developed by Thales Australia for the Australian Army. The [Read More…]
Thales Australia has unveiled the new F90, their latest version of the Steyr AUG. Steyr may have given up development of their AUG, but the Australians continue to evolve the design. The F90 is the commercial/export version of the EF-88 which Thales have been developing [Read More…]
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