SAR 21 - WikiHQ

The SAR 21 ("Singapore Assault Rifle - 21st Century") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in Singapore, chambered for the 5.56x45mm cartridge. First revealed and subsequently adopted by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as its standard service weapon in 1999, it was designed and developed over a four-year period to replace the locally license-built M16S1

Many of its design features are directly intended to address the weaknesses of the M16S1 as encountered operationally by some infantrymen. In the United States, it was marketed by ST Kinetics via its American subsidiary, VT Systems.

History

Since the mid-80s, the SAF had an outstanding requirement to replace the M16S1, in use since 1973, in part due to licensing limitations that prevented Singapore from exporting the M16S1 or making new assault rifles based on it. In 1994, a proposal by the SAF was submitted to MINDEF for options to either procure new weapons (thought was given to purchase the M16A2) or to develop an indigenous rifle. On 19 November 2002, a patent was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Tuck Wah Chee and Felix Tsai with the patent number 6,481,144 B1. STK and several foreign firms involved were blacklisted by the Indian Defence Ministry.

On February 19, 2024, the Next Generation SAR (Singapore Assault Rifle) was unveiled by ST Engineering at the Singapore Airshow 2024 event.

Design

left|thumb|A Singaporean soldier gives an overview of the SAR-21 rifle to a group of [[United States Army|US Army soldiers at Multinational Base Tarin Kowt.]]

The SAR 21's furniture is made of a rugged, high impact polymer, much of the manufacturing is done utilising CNC machines, with ultrasonic welding for the steel-reinforced receiver halves and the gun barrel being cold hammer forged.

The integral 1.5x optical scope that is built into its carrying handle aids in target acquisition, particularly under low light conditions. The scope is factory-zeroed, and requires minimal further zeroing to suit different users,

the sluggish trigger pull compared with the crisp trigger of the M16S1
the heavy weight of the weapon
the increased muzzle blast, due to the muzzle being nearer to the user's ears
being told by instructors that it is a "right-handed only" weapon and left-handed soldiers having to (and are still being taught to) fire with their right hand
iron sights that chip off easily when weapon is dropped
lack of internal illumination of the scope (the crosshairs in the scope are virtually invisible in the dark)

Some of these criticisms were addressed with design modifications to the later production models. New weapon handling procedures were also introduced.

The magazine changing issue was solved with training soldiers to always hold the pistol grip with their master hand. The charging of the weapon and reloading of magazines are to be done by the non-master hand.
The sluggish trigger pull was improved by using a stiff sliding plate in place of the flexible rod.
The Steyr AUG styled iron sights were replaced with stockier, hardier ones.

The Kevlar plating on the left side of the weapon butt (where a right-handed user's face would typically be) is effective in protecting the user from any internal chamber explosion by directing the resulting force to the right. The charging handle is moved to the side of the weapon and is interchangeable.

;SAR 21 Lightweight Carbine

:A lightweight SAR 21 variant was revealed during the Asian Defence Exhibition held in conjunction with 2006 Asian Aerospace. The variant boasts an ultra-short barrel, shorter handguards and a Picatinny rail

;SAR 21A

:Prototype unveiled at the Singapore Air Show 2010, this updated variant boasts a sturdier thumb selector for ambidextrous control, an unloaded weight of , a full built-in Picatinny rail along its length and a higher rate of firing at 900 RPM. In production as of 2012.

Users

thumb|A map with SAR 21 users in blue

: Replacing the FN FAL with the SAR 21 as of 2017.
: Royal Brunei Armed Forces.
: Indonesian Air Force, used by Korps Pasukan Khas special forces unit.
: Special forces.