{"id":17462,"date":"2014-12-16T12:30:03","date_gmt":"2014-12-16T01:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=17462"},"modified":"2014-12-17T11:02:50","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T00:02:50","slug":"sod-the-submarines-can-we-please-talk-about-the-rifles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/sod-the-submarines-can-we-please-talk-about-the-rifles\/","title":{"rendered":"Sod the submarines, can we please talk about the rifles?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/a>I applaud Defence Minister David Johnston\u2019s willingness to stand up to vested interests to ensure that the Australian people get the best submarines available. I hasten to add that I don\u2019t have a clue whether the Royal Australian Navy is best off with S\u014dry\u016b-class subs or something else. To be perfectly honest, given that the Royal Australian Submarine Service hasn\u2019t fired a shot in anger in 100 years, and seems highly unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future, I don\u2019t really care.<\/p>\n

The same, however, can\u2019t be said for the standard individual weapon of the ADF. In that same 100 years Australian diggers have fired millions of shots in anger with their Lee Enfields, SLR\u2019s, M16\u2019s and F88 AusSteyrs in life or death engagements with Australia\u2019s enemies. While we can have lofty abstract debates over the strategic value of RAN submarines, there can be no debating that the lives of Australia\u2019s military personnel rely on the effectiveness of the rifles they have been issued with. As such, Australia owes it to her armed servants to ensure that they are equipped with the best service rifle available. But that\u2019s currently not the reality.<\/p>\n

In the 1970\u2019s the Steyr AUG assault rifle (of which the F88 is a variant) seemed to herald the future. The bullpup design (which places the action and magazine of the weapon behind the trigger and pistol grip, alongside the firer\u2019s face, thereby replacing the traditional buttstock) promised assault-rifle performance in an impressively compact package. That it certainly delivered, but at significant cost. One major disadvantage of the bullpup design over more conventional assault rifles is that most bullpups are not truly ambidextrous. Yes, it\u2019s possible to switch the ejection port of the F88 to either the left or the right, depending on whether the shooter is left- or right-handed. But that just switches around which shoulder the rifle cannot properly be fired from. Because the action is to the rear, firing a bullpup from the \u2018wrong\u2019 shoulder results in the shooter receiving a face-full of scalding hot brass. 50% of the world\u2019s cover is off-side for 100% of shooters, and modern military doctrine emphasizes the ability to fire effectively from either shoulder. The F88 does not allow for that, which means that Australian soldiers must expose themselves to enemy fire in order to fire around \u2018wrong side\u2019 cover, placing their lives at unnecessary risk.<\/p>\n

Bullpups also cannot be adjusted to fit different-sized human beings. In firearms parlance that\u2019s the issue of \u2018length of pull\u2019 (LOP), i.e. the distance from the trigger to the end of the buttstock. The LOP that\u2019s optimal for each human being depends on height and corresponding arm length. If the LOP is too long it becomes difficult to reach and employ the trigger effectively, and to achieve an effective sight picture. If the LOP is too short the shooter\u2019s forced to \u2018scrunch up\u2019 on the rifle, again resulting in difficulty in attaining an effective sight picture. (By analogy think of the position of the driver\u2019s seat in a car. If it\u2019s too far from the controls\u2026you get the picture). The F88 has perfect LOP if you\u2019re an average-sized man, and you can manage okay if you\u2019re a bit on either side of that. But if you\u2019re particularly tall you\u2019ll have great difficulty employing the F88 effectively. Perhaps more importantly, if you\u2019re a short man, or a not especially short woman<\/em>, you\u2019ll also struggle. This is, as much as anything, an equity issue. If the ADF is serious about integrating women into its ranks\u2014particularly into combat units\u2014it\u2019s absurd (and morally problematic) to persist in issuing a primary weapon that puts them at a significant disadvantage in a firefight.<\/p>\n

There are other problems with the F88, but I hope this is enough to illustrate that the current plan of continuing on to another version of the F88 (the Enhanced F88) that does little or nothing to address those issues is a pretty bad idea. So what\u2019s the alternative? There\u2019s only one answer\u2014the M4 Carbine employed by our U.S. allies. It\u2019s lighter, cheaper, and more robust than the F88. It\u2019s modular, battle-tested, constantly refined, truly ambidextrous, and fully adjustable. The M4 beats the F88 hands down. Of course you shouldn\u2019t take my word for it\u2014instead, try asking the operators of the ADF\u2019s elite special operations units whether they plan on turning in their M4\u2019s when the \u2018enhanced\u2019 F88 begins production. But don\u2019t expect a polite answer.<\/p>\n

So, will Minister Johnson stand up to those with vested interests in this<\/em> case?<\/p>\n

Deane-Peter Baker is a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. Image courtesy of Department of Defence<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I applaud Defence Minister David Johnston\u2019s willingness to stand up to vested interests to ensure that the Australian people get the best submarines available. I hasten to add that I don\u2019t have a clue whether …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":17463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[112,657],"class_list":["post-17462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-defence-materiel-organisation","tag-handgun"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSod the submarines, can we please talk about the rifles? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/sod-the-submarines-can-we-please-talk-about-the-rifles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sod the submarines, can we please talk about the rifles? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I applaud Defence Minister David Johnston\u2019s willingness to stand up to vested interests to ensure that the Australian people get the best submarines available. 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