FN Herstal, the major state owned arms manufacturer in Belgium, has announced that it is acquiring the storied sniper rifle manufacturer Accuracy International, more commonly known as AI. The L96 rifle adopted by the United Kingdom in the 1980s put AI on the map and the refined L96A1/Arctic Warfare, and its variants, became the most widely adopted sniper rifle in the world. The large caliber versions known as the Super Magnum, or L115A1 in the UK and seen below, extended the useful range of these weapons, as well as their adoption rate.
FN Herstal is another storied arms manufacturer and major player in the military defense industry as well as owner of the Browning and Winchester firearms manufacturing companies in the USA. FN has designed and produced many well known firearms such as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), M240 light machine gun, FN High Power and many other civilian and military arms used today.
The acquisition of Accuracy International gives FN a foothold in the United Kingdom where it is expected they will make a play at producing the next generation combat rifle the UK military is in the works of adopting.
No terms of the sale or other details were provided.
Sniper Central
FN has had a manufacturing facility in the UK since 2017 after they acquired Manroy Engineering (Est 1975) which produced among other things M2’s, MAG’s and AR’s.
Thanks for the info!
MEL