J. Tattersall wrote: that's not in keeping with the tone of this forum, which is to criticise UK defence decisions at every possible opportunity.
Because of HK's key role in making it work, perhaps I'm allowed to diverge from Forum rules (everything in English) and say
"Ubung macht Meister". Namely
"was praised for its accuracy [as per LJ, upthread] when it worked properly, but that was nowhere near often enough. A number of fixes were implemented to address the most severe problems, but the L85A1 continued to have problems throughout the 1990s. In 1998, German small arms manufacturer Heckler and Koch received a contract to modify L85A1s to the L85A2 standard, incorporating further changes designed to boost reliability.
In 2016, the British Army began converting rifles to the -A3 standard."
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three strikes... and the L85 is still 'in'
Of course you would know that all rational decision making is done 'at the margin' so in that sense the upgrade was the right decision
= hold the fort, and see where 'the big boys' are going with ARs/ SAWs
But let's not forget the backdrop:
"The L85A3 of today is an accurate and reliable weapon, but it took the UK government too long to correct the problems. Over the years the British Army has spent a total of $461 per rifle to make the weapon reliable, which is almost enough to [have] completely replaced the rifles with [brand new] M4 carbines"
Those interested in all the twists and turns can enjoy a read here:
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... lure-93001
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)