SA80

The SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. The prototypes were created in 1976, with production of the A1 variant starting in 1985 and ending in 1994. The A2 variant came to be as the result of a significant upgrade in the early 2000s by Heckler & Koch and remains in service as of 2025. The A3 variant was first issued in 2018 with several new improvements.

The remainder of the SA80 family consists of the L86 Light Support Weapon, the short-barrelled L22 Carbine and the L98 Cadet rifle.

The SA80 was the last in a long line of British weapons (including the Lee–Enfield family) to come from the Royal Small Arms Factory, the national arms development and production facility at Enfield Lock, before its weapons factory was closed down in 1988.

Development

Post-war intermediate weapon development

The idea dates back to the late 1940s, when an ambitious programme to develop a new cartridge and new class of rifle was launched in the United Kingdom based on combat experience drawn from World War II. Two 7mm (.280 in) prototypes were built in a bullpup configuration, designated the EM-1 and EM-2. The latter was brought into service briefly as "Rifle, Automatic, Calibre .280, Number 9". When NATO standardised on the 7.62mm rifle cartridge as the standard calibre for its service rifles, further development of these rifles was discontinued and the British Army adopted the 7.62 mm L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle semi-automatic rifle, a licence-built version of the Belgian FN FAL.

1960s – 1970s: 4.85×49mm, XL64, XL65, XL68

In 1969, the Enfield factory began work on a brand new family of weapons, chambered in a newly designed British 4.85×49mm intermediate cartridge.