Originally Posted by Rainbow Six
A few thoughts...
Even in a V1 timeline without the Gulf War, it was known that the A1 version had a number of flaws, so I’m one of those who think that some sort of L85A2 might start to appear in limited numbers from 1995 onwards (note I’m not suggesting it would be the same as the A2 version in current service).
In my T2K World the catalyst for the upgrade is the outbreak of the Sino Soviet War, which prompts the review that IRL happened after the 1991 Gulf War. This review is conducted as a matter of urgency, and starting sometime in 1996 Royal Ordnance begin manufacturing the A2 model, which immediately start going to front line troops (primarily the Infantry Battalions of the Regular Army). Production of the A2 continues up until the 1997 nuclear exchanges, although priority continues to go to combat units in Europe, so the A2 model is rare in the United Kingdom, being only found in the hands of a small number of Regular Army units.
Still in my T2K World, the A1 model is more common in the UK, being used by Territorial Infantry Battalions serving in a home defence role, however it has been widely supplemented by SLR’s and Sterlings, which have been brought out of “storage” and issued on a relatively large scale, particularly to support units (R Signals, Royal Logistics Corps) and RAF and Royal Navy units who have been pressed into service as infantry. I also envisage a number of SLR’s and Sterlings being issued to Civilian police during the third quarter of 1997. I also like the idea of the Bren gun being reissued as a support weapon.
There are various issues with production of the AR18 – as Simonmark6 has mentioned the factory where they were manufactured is in an area that is likely to suffer heavy damage in the nuclear exchange (if not from conventional attack beforehand) but perhaps the bigger issue is that IRL Sterling Armaments went bankrupt in 1988 as 95th Rifleman has pointed out. That said, if you want to introduce increased numbers of AR18’s into the UK I don't think that these problems are unresolvable; one could argue that in a World where the Cold War continues, a buyer might have been found to rescue the company from bankruptcy, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that production could have continued up to the nuclear exchange (at least).
Post exchange, I think the points put forward by Simonmark6 are spot on; given the relatively low numbers of weapons in private ownership, HMG’s forces should be more than capable of outgunning most unlawful groups. With regards to holding reintegrated territory, I agree this would be a far greater challenge than taking the territory in the first place. I think here we could expect to see militia forces being raised, made up of locally recruited volunteers, and quite possibly armed primarily with melee weapons, supplemented by a limited number of firearms (don’t laugh, but for those familiar with the programme the analogy that springs to mind here are the very early episodes of Dad’s Army, when Captain Mainwaring “appropriates” the one firearm the Home Guard platoon has for himself).
|