Does everyone think the UK troops would have tried to muddle through with the dreadful SA80? The upgrade program was just getting going in 1997, and with some 350,000 to repair, they were not getting far till much later.
In my pondering, I just don't think the SA80s would have been used long by front line troops. In its unimproved state, the gun is neither reliable or well liked, having at least 50 identified faults. The L1A1s could have been pulled out of storage, but they would have made getting in and out of a Warrior or helicopter a bit of a challenge. To be sure, a lot of L1A1 would be issued, but I'm not sure mechanized infantry would have liked lugging it around.
Personally, I think the bulk of the Brits in Germany would have ended up with former East German AK-74 variants converted to 5.56mm. The UK arms industry was not, in my opinion, in a state so as to be able to turn out an acceptable substitute in the numbers required, so the UK would have to have to get weapons from someplace. The Germans literally had tens of thousand AK variants sitting around, and no where near the manpower demands for all of them in 1996. The other alternative would be the US M-16A1 or A2 and its Canadian copy, but I believe most US manufacturing capacity would be directed to getting new US units armed.
Any thoughts?
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