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The SAR-21 is an assault rifle of Singaporean origin. It was developed in the late 1990's by the Chartered Industries of Singapore to replace the aging M16A1 in Singaporean service. The SAR-21 is a reliable weapon with limited costs. It suffers from several limited drawbacks, such as being a right handed weapon only and a hard to reach fire selector switch.
The SAR-21 is a modern bullpup assault rifle. It is gas operated and features a long stroke gas piston and a rotating bolt. The furniture is all made out of plastic with the barrel and internal mechanism being made out of metal. The integrated 1.5x optical sight doubles as carrying handle. A visible and IR laser are fitted in the handguard. There are no iron sights. Proprietary plastic translucent magazines were developed for use with the SAR-21, although STANAG magazines can also be used. Later models feature Picatinny rails for mounting optics and accessories.
The SAR-21 fires the 5.56x45mm round from a 30 round magazine. It is available with a rifling for either M193 or NATO ammunition. It is a select-fire weapon with a cyclic rate of fire of 450 to 650 rpm. The weight of the weapon and limited rate of fire make the weapon controllable during automatic fire. The maximum effective range is about 400 meters.