Steyr AUG

Steyr AUG is an assault rifle created in Austria. Steyr AUG has been in service since 1978 till date. Steyr AUG is in use by the countries of Austria, Australia, East Timor, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Republic of Ireland, Indonesia, Oman, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UK, Pakistan, Philippines, US. It was also used in the East Timor war, Afghanistan war, Iraq war. It was designed in the year 1977.

The production started in the year 1978 and is continued till date. The weight is 3.6 kg when it is empty. It has a barrel length of 508mm. The total length is 790mm. the standard cartridge is 5.56 x 45 mm NATO, and 9 x 19 mm (AUG SMG). By the nature of operation it is gas-operated with rotating bolt. It can fire upto 650 rounds per minute. It has a Muzzle velocity of 992 m/s or 3,255 ft/s. The effective range of this Steyr AUG assault rifle is 450-500 meters. The feed system for this firearm is 30 or 42-round magazine. Steyr AUG can be understood as a family of firearms, introduced in the year 1977 by the Austrian company called Steyr Mannlicher.

The abbreviation AUG stands for Armee Universal Gewehr, which means Universal Army Rifle. Many time Steyr AUG is used to refer to a specific version, the initial variant that was 5.56 mm NATO bullpup assault rifle. Since then it has produced a variety of related weapons including a submachine gun, a designated marksman rifle, and light machine guns. The Steyr AUG have been adopted by a number of armed forces and organizations and is the standard service rifle of Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg, and Ireland. The Malaysian Armed Forces replaced the Steyr Aug with the M4 Carbine in 2006. The Steyr AUG is one of the first rifles to enter service designed on a bullpup principle. The advantage of bullpup design makes it 25% shorter than other rifles having similar barrel lengths, without compromising ballistic performance. Most versions come factory-equipped with a 1.5x magnification optical sight and carrying handle.

The Steyr AUG is generally regarded as a modern ergonomic design for a combat rifle. Other features are both hand controllable and use of clear or translucent plastic magazines. Barrels of the Steyr AUG can often be changed relatively easily to a different version, such as from a shorter barreled carbine (short rifle) to a longer barrel. By using the modification kit you can change Steyr AUG to a submachine gun. Some variants such as the light machine gun or heavy barrel have more extensive differences and are company configured. It has been used by the British SAS and other organizations in a counter-terror role. It is also currently in use by the US Customs Service.

The manufacturer of Steyr AUG is Steyr Mannlicher, a company originally based in Austria. It is available in the following variants. Steyr AUG A2 407 mm, Steyr AUG A3 with a grenade launcher, Steyr AUG 9mm Steyr AUG A1 It is the standard version that was first introduced in 1977. Initially they were only green in color and had 20 inches barrel. Steyr AUG A2 . It is very similar to the A1, but the upper sight is removable. In its place, a Mil Std 1913 rail can be placed or other equipment. Steyr AUG A3, is more heavily modified. The upper rail has an integrated Mil Std 1913 and the front barrel section has short rails as well. F88 Aug Steyr— a modified AUG A1 slightly modified for Australian conditions. Steyr AUG P is essentially a AUG A1 but with a shorter barrel. Steyr AUG P Special receiver is same as AUG P but with a raised rail rather than integrated scope on the raised area. Steyr AUG 9 mm is a AUG fitted to fire 9 x 19 mm cartridges. Steyr AUG M203 is modified for use with the M203 grenade launcher. Steyr F88-S is a version of the Australian F88 Austeyr with a pica tinny rail in place of the standard optic sight to allow the attachment of various other sights. Steyr F88 GLA is an Australian Army version with M203. It features an Inter-bar interface, an R/M Equipment M203PI, and Knights Armaments quadrant sight assembly to which a Fire point red dot sight is attached. The bayonet lugs and forward vertical fore grip is removed. Steyr F88-c is a carbine version of the Australian F88 Austeyr, it has a ten centimetre shorter barrel. Steyr AUG LSW (Light Support Weapon) is a family of light support versions of the AUG. Steyr AUG HBAR, Heavy-Barreled Automatic Rifle is a longer, heavier-barreled version for use as a light machine gun but still firing from a closed bolt. Steyr AUG LMG (Light Machine Gun) is based on the AUG HBAR, but can fire from an open bolt, has 4X rather than 1.5x scope of regular AUG.