The Singapore Assault Rifle 21 (SAR 21)

The Singapore Assault Rifle 21 (SAR 21)
Adaption from Jane Magazine

Singapore has for many years equipped its military forces with M16A1 rifles manufactured under license by Chartered Industries of Singapore, now reorganized and renamed Singapore Technologies Kinetics (STKinetics) in keeping with the new directions undertaken by the company. The M16A1 was a satisfactory infantry rifle for many years, but licensing prohibitions limited Singapore's ability to market the rifle overseas and also restricted the types of rifles that could be produced. These restraints led to the introduction and production of indigenous designs such as the SAR-80 and SR-88. The SAR-80 and the SR-88 saw only limited service with Singapore's military, as they were intended primarily for export. In the 1990s the Singapore military was faced with a dilemma. The M16A1 rifles that formed the backbone of Singapore's military would reach the end of their effective service life around the turn of the century. The choice was to either upgrade the M16A1 or produce a new rifle. Singapore opted for the latter choice, but rather than produce a foreign design under license or use a foreign weapon designer, as was done with weapons such as the SAR-80 and Ultimax 100 light machine gun, STKinetics' management decided to develop a new rifle that would be an indigenous project from start to finish. This new rifle was intended to fully meet Singapore's 21st century military requirements and at the same time be viable in the highly competitive international small arms export market. The result of STKinetics' efforts is the SAR-21 assault rifle, now replacing Singapore's M16A1 rifles in the military forces.
Unique design Although the SAR-21 bears superficial resemblance to other bullpup assault rifles, such as the Steyr AUG and IMI Tavor, it is a unique design that is similar to its cousins only in that it is of bullpup configuration. There has been a plethora of bullpup rifle designs in recent years, starting with the Steyr AUG and continuing with weapons such as the British SA-80, the French FAMAS, the Chinese Type 95/97, the Israeli Tavor and the South African CR-21, not to mention the US' questionable Objective Individual Combat Weapon. The latter is actually a bullpup semi-automatic grenade launcher with a rifle as secondary weapon. Bullpup rifles have the advantage of minimizing a rifle's overall length by moving the receiver to the rear and integrating it and the buttstock into a single unit. This allows the use of a full-length barrel in a rifle with the overall external dimensions of a short-barreled carbine. The bullpup configuration is especially advantageous in close combat situations or when soldiers are mounted in vehicles where the design allows for convenient ingress/egress from vehicles and more effective tactical operations. The disadvantages of the bullpup design include the fact that the receiver is next to the shooter's face, which causes discomfort in the event of a ruptured cartridge or magazine explosion.