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MoD under pressure to abandon SA- 80 rifle By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 22/07/2002) Defence ministers are under pressure to scrap the troubled SA-80 rifle after an inspection team sent to Afghanistan found that, even after a refit, major faults still needed rectifying if it was to be used in combat again. The original SA-80, produced by Royal Ordnance, jammed repeatedly under fire in Sierra Leone and the Balkans. As a result, Heckler and Koch was paid £92 million to modify the weapon. But defence sources said the modifications had made the weapon virtually unusable in many combat situations. Now it is thought likely that ministers will decide that they must cut their losses and go for the Heckler and Koch G36 assault rifle. Its cost could be reduced if it is established that Heckler and Koch failed to produce a modified weapon that worked. Earlier this month an MoD inspection team flew to Afghanistan amid reports of a number of stoppages affecting Royal Marine commandos hunting al-Qa'eda fighters. The team, including two experts from Heckler and Koch, was horrified to find the problem was far worse than previously thought. A demonstration by a company of Marines returning from a mission showed a third of the companies' rifles, between 30 and 40, not working properly. The Marines were told to treat their return to Bagram by Chinook helicopter as a landing in a hostile environment. The whole exercise was filmed. As the helicopters landed at Bagram, throwing up a huge dust cloud, the Marines poured out of the helicopters and ran to the firing range to fire their weapons. Problems they encountered ranged from stoppages caused by dust in the rifle's working parts to magazines falling off. Even those who managed to fire their rifles had to work hard to get the safety catches The modified SA-80 has to be cleaned five times a day, according to Royal Marines officers off. There was a stand-up row at a meeting in the MoD last week when a senior Army officer accused the Marines of causing the stoppages by not keeping their weapons clean. Royal Marines officers dismissed the claim, saying that the modified weapon was too high-maintenance and they had been forced to clean it as often as five times a day. One said: "If you're jumping out of a Chinook into that kind of heat and dust, it wouldn't matter how clean the rifle was beforehand. The minute you got off, it would be covered in shit." Heckler and Koch experts identified five serious problems needing to be rectified: � The oil's ability to lubricate the weapon is breaking down in the high temperatures; � The impossibility of switching off the safety catch under fire; � Too much dust getting into the magazines, preventing them from putting rounds in the rifle chamber; � Too much dust getting into the rifle itself. Experts suggested a protective cover over the working parts; � The magazine is not robust enough and even the tiniest dent prevents it from staying on the rifle. Following last week's MoD meeting, the initial findings of the inspection team have been sent to ministers.