The ST Kinetics BR18 (Bullpup Rifle 2018) is a Singaporean assault rifle.
History[]
The BR18 was introduced at the 2018 Singapore Air Show held in February 2018. The weapon is an evolution of the BMCR that was shown at the same event four years prior; four years of research, development, field tests and feedback eventually culminated in the BR18. The BR18 is stated to be "ready for mass-production" and is a contender for replacing the SAR 21 in service, in addition to the BR18 being offered for export.
Three variants of the BR18 have been developed; an assault rifle, a marksman rifle and a squad automatic weapon variant (labelled as "machine gun rifle" in data sheet). It is stated that a 7.62Ć51mm NATO variant is under development.
The weapon was showcased at SHOT Show 2019.[1]
Design Details[]
The BR18 was designed to be a modern assault rifle to be used by armed forces, being lightweight and compact and is said that it enhances a soldier's warfighting capabilities in urban areas, mainly due to its very short length.
The rifle is fully ambidextrous and possesses flexibility for various roles such as assault, marksman and support, similar to the BMCR. Unlike the BMCR, however, the charging handle is a standard side-mounted charging handle as opposed to the movable cheekrest of the BMCR. The BR18's cheekrest is made of carbon fiber.[2] Despite that, the moving cheekrest was still retained; instead, the feature is used to clear stoppages.[1]
The BR18's ejection port is front-facing, ejecting cartridges away from the shooter's hand, making it somewhat friendly to left handers, despite the ejection port being in a similar position to most as seen on bullpup rifles.
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