#Thales

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 F90. Thales released a press release describing the rifle, just prior to DSEI.

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!

An interesting video from “down under” was released a few days ago.

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 accident. Its durability, reliability, and performance have become the metric by which other STANAG magazines are measured.

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 designation for the AUG) bullpup rifle.

Jane’s has come out with a report that Australia is in the final stages of procurement of the EF88 5.56x45mm service rifle, or the “Enhanced F88”. Currently, the Australian Defense Force (ADF) has just over 80,000 servicemen and women. With this contract of 30,000 rifles, it appears that all are probably going to the Infantry as it won’t cover the entire force.

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 and production. The F90 is a lighter, more modular system that fixes many of the flaws of the original Steyr AUG design:

Earlier this year I wrote about the Lithgow Arms LA101 CrossOver rifle, a Thales Australia and Winchester collaboration. It was unveiled at the end of May at an Australian gun expo. I thought it was about to go into production but apparently the general public had a lot to say about the design and Thales have subsequently made many design changes. Nic Jenzen-Jones sent us a press release from Thales …

The bulky device mounted underneath a shotgun in a photo I posted earlier this week was correctly identified by swilliams and Lionel as the Thales GLOW (Green Light Optical Warner), a picatinny mounted laser dazzler.

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 for the Australia’s LAND 125 upgrade program. Thales and Steyr will be entering the F90 in the French FAMAS replacement competition.