EF88 completes first deployment
The Australian Defence Force’s new service rifle, the Enhanced F88 (EF88), has completed its first full operational deployment, the Australian Department of Defence announced on 7 November.
Task Group Taji 5, deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Okra, reported that the EF88 operated effectively in the extreme heat and the dusty conditions of Iraq.
The EF88 was brought into service mid-2016 for selected units.
Major Timothy Soper, the Officer Commanding Task Group Taji Logistics Company, said the EF88’s superior accuracy, robustness and weight identified during testing and trials have been confirmed in its first full operational deployment.
Soper said: ‘The tiered design approach applied to the EF88 has resulted in a common system capable of being tailored to land combatant role and task. Pre-deployment and deployed combat shooting training has seen enhanced accuracy and increased lethality through improved effective ranges across the variety of Task Group Taji services, corps and trades.’
The EF88 is part of an evolution of the Austeyr bull-pup assault rifles introduced into Australian service in 1988 as the army retired the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Land Warfare
-
NATO and Europe step up UGV efforts
The effort to develop uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) is heating up with research efforts and exercises improving the speed of the process and the war in Ukraine is working as a proving ground for rapid development and fielding.
-
Ireland’s Reamda develops new version of Riddler UGV
The company's Riddler uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) is designed to be small and light to allow easy deployment and the ability to access smaller areas such as bus or train aisles.
-
Spain to invest billions of dollars on howitzers and other vehicles as it looks to select new tanks
The Spanish Government has outlined plans to purchase communications and cybersecurity capabilities but most notably amphibious combat vehicles, self-propelled howitzers (SPHs), bridge-laying vehicles and an effort to replace its tanks from 2040.
-
What does Germany’s new tank joint venture mean for MGCS?
Germany is Europe’s leading country for tank manufacture and until this month was committed to the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) which included tanks and other vehicles. Earlier this month, Germany and other European countries set up the Main ARmoured Tank of Europe (MARTE) project casting a shadow over the MGCS.
-
CAVS rolls on as Denmark orders 129 vehicles
Denmark signed the Technical Arrangement for the multinational Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) in April this year. The order means the country will receive its first vehicle this year.