EF88 completes first deployment

The Australian Defence Force’s new service rifle, the Enhanced F88 (EF88), has completed its first full operational deployment, the Australian Department of Defence announced on 7 November.

Task Group Taji 5, deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Okra, reported that the EF88 operated effectively in the extreme heat and the dusty conditions of Iraq.

The EF88 was brought into service mid-2016 for selected units.

Major Timothy Soper, the Officer Commanding Task Group Taji Logistics Company, said the EF88’s superior accuracy, robustness and weight identified during testing and trials have been confirmed in its first full operational deployment.

Soper said: ‘The tiered design approach applied to the EF88 has resulted in a common system capable of being tailored to land combatant role and task. Pre-deployment and deployed combat shooting training has seen enhanced accuracy and increased lethality through improved effective ranges across the variety of Task Group Taji services, corps and trades.’

The EF88 is part of an evolution of the Austeyr bull-pup assault rifles introduced into Australian service in 1988 as the army retired the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle.

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