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British Army Drops The L86A2 LSW And L110A3 Support Weapons

Gungho Cowboy

It is official now, the L86A2 LSW and L110A3 support weapons are removed from the fire team level by the British Army.  As reported by Soldier Magazine, these weapons together with the M6-640 60mm mortar, will be phased out from the service by April 2019.

The news did not come as a surprise, as the British Army have been planning to remove the support weapons with confirmation of the L110A3 or the FN Para Mini was set to be dropped during the 2018 Future Soldier Technology Conference that was held in March. The talk about dropping the squad support weapon started in the 2016 with the effort to “fight light” which of course, means that weight reduction is seen as an objective for infantry units. The LSW offers few benefits over the standard model.

On the L110A3, Major John Anthistle of the Equipment Directorate said “despite the popular view, it is far heavier but less lethal and effective.” Studies show that it does not offer any significant advantage over the SA80 and Anthistle added that it, “is rarely employed in favour of the 7.62mm equivalent.”

The L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) which is the 7.62mm FN MAG, will still be used at the platoon level.

Moving away from belt-fed support weapons is nothing new. The U.S. Marine Corps decided to use the M27 IAR more for support purposes as well than rely on the M249. With the M27 IAR now getting to be standard infantry weapon for the Marines, the firepower that that M249 can provide will be rarely missed.

The gap that will be left by the withdrawal of both support weapons will be filled in by the 7.62mm L129A1 Sharpshooter. The rifle has been introduced into service with then British Ministry of Defence (MOD), contracted the Lewis Machine & Tools Co. (LMT) to supply the British Army in 2009 for use in Afghanistan. There are over 3,000 L129A1 rifles in the British Army as of 2014 and they have an effective range of 800 metres and a maximum range of 1000 metres, a range that soldiers want as they are being outranged by insurgents using the 7.62mm round.

British soldier with the L129A1 Sharspshooter in Tapa, Estonia 2017 (Photo by Arno Mikkor, via Wikimedia)

As for the M6-640mm mortar, it will be removed from service as it heavy weight and relative inaccuracy led to its lack of use in the Army. As for its replacement, various options are still being evaluated.

 

Top photo: British soldier with the L129A1 (Photo by MOD/British Army. Crown Copyright 2018)

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