#ar18

Chartered Industries of Singapore SAR-80

In the late 1970s Singaporean arms manufacturer Chartered Industries of Singapore (later known as ST Kinetics) sought a rifle to produce for domestic and export sale, they partnered with the UK’s Sterling Armaments to produce an AR-18-inspired rifle, the SAR 80.

Chambered in 5.56x45mm the SAR-80 can be described as a clone of the Armalite AR-18 with the two rifles’ internal designs almost identical. The SAR-80 is gas-operated, with a short-stroke gas piston and a rotating bolt. While extremely similar the SAR 80 has a few interesting features, check out the video below:

Developed with cost in mind, contemporary literature from CIS states an export price of around $300 per rifle, the equivalent to day of about $930. CIS produced more than 80,000 between 1980 and 1988, it saw limited service with Singapore’s military. It did enjoy some export sales, with the SAR-80 used by the Central African Republic’s Gendarmerie, the Croatian Army, the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and the Slovenian Territorial Army. 

CIS replaced the SAR-80 with the SR-88, a rifle co-developed with Sterling as the SAR-87, but this proved unsuccessful and has since been superseded by the SAR-21 bullpup.