I picked up 'Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs' by Lewis Page at HMV at the Heeren over the weekend. The 2007 edition of the book was surprisingly priced at S$12.95 which was far below the British listed price of $24.00 (based on a rough conversion). For a sense of perspective on the British military's procurement and its top-heavy structure, this book was quite unrivalled.
The author ranted against the rather abysmal SA80 IW (L85) assault rifle and its derivative the LSW (L86) and exposed the waste involved in the rebuild to the L85A2. Who wouldn't rant against such waste and callous disregard for the frontline serving troops?
Page also exposed the procurement decisions made in the choice of the A400M transport aircraft (FLA), the 'new' Merlin helicopter, the Type 45 destroyer, the Typhoon and more.
It's quite a worthwhile read, not dissimilar in a superficial way to A. Hadley's 'Straw Giant' which exposed the waste in the US military in the early eighties.
I would recommend this to everyone with an interest in military affairs and procurement.
3 comments:
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the SA80 was such a sucky weapon that NATO dropped it from their list of approved weapons for NATO 5.56mm ammunition.
it had a tendency to go off on its own when dropped or when struck hard.
Hi guys I have used the L85a1/L85a2 and the LSW since 1990 and have never had it go off if dropped or even on its own.
The weapon system is fine and i have never heard of it being removed from the approved weapons for NATO ammo, since we use NATO ammo with this weapon i can't see how this could be the case.
There was bad publicity for this weapon when the Royal Marines tried the A2 variant and made up stories about unreliability as they could argue the case for getting the demarco.
On a whole the it is a very accurate firearm and i think this is one of its saving graces.
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