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Written by davidtkl
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Friday, 19 January 2007 |
The SAR-21 ("Singapore Assault Rifle - 21st Century") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in Singapore. First revealed and subsequently adopted by the Singapore Armed Forces in 1999, it was intended to replace the locally license-built M16S1. Many of its design features are directly intended to counter the weaknesses of the M16 as encountered operationally by infantrymen.
Made of a rugged, high impact polymer, most of the manufacturing is done utilising CNC machines, with ultrasonic welding for the steel-reinforced receiver halves and the gun barrel being drop-forged. It uses a modified Kalashnikov/Stoner operating system, boasting high reliability and low recoil. The translucent magazine allows precise assessment of current ammo load.
The SAR-21 is also the first production assault rifle of its class to incorporate a built-in Laser Aiming Device (LAD) (powered by a single "AA" battery) as standard. The rifle incorporates various patented safety features, such as a Kevlar cheek plate and overpressure vent that protects the shooter in the unlikely event of a chamber explosion or catastrophic failure. It also has an integral 1.5x optical scope that is built into its carrying handle. The scope is factory-zeroed in order to cut down on range time out of the box which also aids in target acquisition under low light conditions.
History and Development
Since the mid-90's, the Singapore Armed Forces had an outstanding requirement to come up with a replacement for their M16S1. Most of the M-16/AR-15s in service have been in use since the 1970's and the SAF had to either procure newer weapons (thought was given to purchase the M-16A2) or to develop their own indigenious rifle.
It was discussed that buying weapons off the shelf would require soldiers to adjust to the weapon, as opposed to a weapon designed specifically to their needs. The rising costs of maintaining the M-16s also made it more justifiable to develop a low-maintenance weapon. As a result, the decision was made in 1995 to design and build the new weapon locally.
The Advanced Combat Rifle was thus born. This weapon will be the precursor to the SAR-21.
Source and credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAR-21
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