Yup, it does indeed look as though the French Army will be adopting a new rifle that speaks German – albeit with a decidely American accent…

The famous FAMAS – standard rifle of the French Armed Forces since the ’70’s.  Photo copyright:  Larry Vickers

According to a story that broke on The Firearm Blog yesterday, it looks as though the French military will be swapping out their famous ‘bugle’ bullpup FAMAS for the HK 416 – which has already been seeing service with French special forces units.

The HK 416 is of course based on the AR15 / M16 platform, but with a number of modern improvements and upgrades – not the least being the replacement of the direct gas impingement system with a short stroke gas piston design.  The HK 416 is also famous for having been originally developed at the request of the US Army’s elite Delta Force, and for the fact that Larry Vickers was involved in its development.

Read the full story on The Firearm Blog…