Portal:British Army/Selected equipment/1
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SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a family of related arms that include the British Armed Forces's standard combat rifle. It is of the bullpup configuration. The SA80 was originally designed and manufactured by the Enfield Royal Small Arms Factory (now BAE Systems Land Systems Munitions & Ordnance), the origin of the earlier name, Enfield Weapon System (EWS), it was introduced into service in 1985. Due to reliability problems, Heckler & Koch (then a division of British Aerospace) were commissioned in 2000 by the Ministry of Defence to refurbish the SA80. The SA80 is likely to remain the primary infantry weapon in British use until 2015 or further since it has been revamped by H&K.
