New, state of the art MARS-L weapons system for NZDF personnel
“The Minister has announced today that our Defence Force personnel will be getting a new, high-tech individual weapon fit for our modern Defence Force to replace our ageing Steyr rifles. This is a major step in ensuring our enhanced combat capability by 2020,” says the Chief of Defence Force, LTGEN Tim Keating.
“Our professional soldiers are at the core of our land-based military capability. Having the right personal weapon is a fundamental requirement of this role. Thorough testing was carried out by NZDF users to ensure our personnel are equipped with the right weapon for any operational situation. This testing involved personnel from all Services and included males and females.
“The MARS-L weapons system is state of the art, and features open architecture which means modern sights and other ancillaries can be mounted on it. It can also be adjusted to fit the user. It provides excellent performance and during testing our users found it simple, light and easy to use well.
The new weapon will be used by all three of our Services and by our Special Forces, and I’m sure our personnel will be very pleased to hear what they’ll be equipped with in the future. Training will be carried out during 2016 as the weapons are introduced into service next year, with deliveries completed in 2017.”
The new MARS-L is a gas piston driven derivative of the M4 developed by LMT and was selected as the winner in a competition that also featured entries from H&K, Colt Canada, FN Herstal, Beretta, CZ, and Steyr Mannlicher.
Click here to see the weapon in action https://youtu.be/HdOE65hxvRQ