Richard LongIllustrated for the PewDoodles Art Library, led by Skipper Lee
The FAMAS (Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne) is a lever-delayed blowback operated standard issue bullpup rifle of the French military since 1978 and is nicknamed as Le Clairon, it replaced the MAS-49/56 self-loading rifles they had in service and development of the rifle started since 1967. The initial F1 version was relatively known for its sensitivity to the ammunition it used as it was designed for 55gr 5.56 steel-cased ammo, firing brass-cased ammo may cause the casing to rupture or deform but this has since been fixed.
The G1 variant was designed by GIAT Industries (now known as Nexter) as an improvement of the F1, they made the rifle cheaper to produce under complaints by the French military that the rifle was too expensive. They took out the bipod, rifle-grenade launching parts, had a new trigger guard design and was also designed for export, unfortunately it was not a commercial success though it was seen being used by genome soldiers during the 2005 Shadow Moses Incident.
The G2 variant was adopted by the French Navy after they took a look at the G1, it was essentially a G1 with no features removed and it kept the new design trigger guard. While the French Army stuck with the F1 and the 55gr 5.56 ammo, the French Navy took further steps and had the rifle use STANAG magazines and further optimized the rifle for better 62gr 5.56 ammo. The G2 variant uses a 1/9 rifling twist in the barrel while the F1 uses a 1/12 rifling twist
Around 2010 the FAMAS FELIN (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons Intégrés) was adopted by the French Army, it was part of what is France's own version of future warrior programs similar to the US Future Force Warrior or Russia's Ratnik. The FELIN rifle features a RIS-mounted smart optic with IR capability and is connected to a network, with the right equipment soldiers can use it to fire from corners with a helmet-mounted camera. The controls can either be operated from the right side of the optic, or through a control panel located at the foregrip below.
At the same year, Nexter started an upgrade program for all existing FAMAS F1 rifles called the F1 Valorisé, it has the upper receiver from the FELIN rifle that features the integrated RIS carry handle and the non-reciprocating charging handle, but uses a new lower receiver with a F1 trigger guard. Beginning in 2017 the FAMAS was starting to be replaced by the Heckler & Koch 416F, a French version of the 416 which won against the HS Produkt VHS-2 during the FAMAS Replacement Trials.
2021-11-24 04:47:15 +0000