#L85A3

Photo Of The Day and we start out strong with the Knight’s Armament KS-1, United Kingdom’s newly selected Alternative Individual Weapons system, or the L403A1. This image is part of the U.K. Ministry Of Defense’s Best of Defence Imagery 2023, and we understand why it was selected.

Founded in 1915 The Welsh Guards (in Welsh: Gwarchodlu Cymreig) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Today the Regiment is a single Battalion equipped and trained for Light Infantry operations, with mainly Welshmen serving. Modern history operations include Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan as well as Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands.

In November 2018, we reported that the British Army was set to receive up to 44,000 upgraded L85A3/SA80A3s over the next 5 years. The contract was reported to be worth £75 million or $95.6 million. It has now been announced, by Heckler & Koch, that a contract has been agreed with the UK’s Ministry of Defence for a three-year programme, worth £15 million (or nearly $19 million), to upgrade an undisclosed number of SA80 rifles.

Today’s Picture Of The Day is the British “EM-2“, in the rain. It is also known under the names as the “Janson rifle (EM2)” or the “Rifle No.9 Mk1”, and almost looks like it has a pump action.

Photo Of The Day (POTD) is one or a series of photos related to firearms in some way.

Today’s photo features two British bullpups, the L85A2 and the Rifle No.9 Mk1, better known as the E.M. 2. The E.M. 2 was briefly adopted by the British Army in 1951, but a combination of national and international political wrangling saw it soon abandoned ostensibly to ensure standardisation of rifle and ammunition amongst the NATO powers.

On the 11th April, the British Ministry of Defence announced the official adoption of the newly updated L85A3. I covered this several weeks ago, discussing in-depth the changes made to the rifles, but the Press Release offers some new details.

The British Army have begun issuing the newly upgraded SA80A3, the Grenadier Guards are the first regiment to receive the newly refitted bullpups. News of the upgrade to the British Army’s L85/SA80 first emerged back in 2016, but it appears the rifles are about to make their operational debut.

At this years Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exposition in London Heckler & Koch have brought along their Mid Life Improvement of the British military’s SA80. The first images of the L85A3 appeared last summer. But some photos from the expo floor, posted by Soldier Systems Daily, show off the rifle’s new configuration.

“Beneath this mask of a failed bullpup there is more than double feeds and malfunctions. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof, especially when they jam!”, in other words, the SA80/L85 bullpup rifle platform probably wouldn’t be too good at being in anti-establishment movies, considering that the platform itself is a product of the establishment. In all fairness, the L85A2 has come leaps and bounds since its problem years in the 1990s and early in the British involvement of OIF, or Op Telic.