Quote:
Originally Posted by perardua
The L119A1 is a Diemaco, as far as I can tell, having spent some time on the ranges with some SFSG lads while on tour who let us have a go.
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Perardua,
Diemaco is an interesting story. Both new and licenced weapons (SA-80, AUSTEYR-88) seem to have considerable teething difficulties; Diemaco took a design and within a decade had made improvements on the original so much that more C7s-C8s were sold to more foreign governments than the M16/M4 designs, and in more versions. In a move that is neither surprising nor ironic, Colt acquired Diemaco and it is now known as "Colt Canada".
There were rumours in the 90's that the Diemaco C7 and C8 would replace the L85A1, but for many reasons this didn't come about. For one thing, a lot of time and money had been sunk into the SA-80. Also, the idea might have been to run out the clock until the next generation infantry weapon was developed, likely an OICW-type system.
In the T2K timeline, it's possible that after being adopted by special units in the 90's, the L119A1 would become more widespread in British units due to quality and availability, at least as a stopgap while the L85A2 is developed and deployed.
Tony