FN FNC

     Notes: The FNC was first produced in the late 1970s as an improved version of the FN CAL.  It was intended to address the problems the CAL suffered from difficult environments, and to keep functioning even when dirty.  Like the CAL, it is basically a scaled-down version of the FAL, and has a similar operating system. It is easy to clean, strip, and reassemble. It has been adopted by several countries around the world. In Belgium, it became the standard assault rifle, replacing the FN CAL and FN FAL (for most uses). The rifle is used by Belgium, Indonesia, Latvia, and Nigeria, and several other unnamed countries. The FNC was given stringent tests by NATO in 1976, and it was found wanting; the problems uncovered were corrected by 1979. (This is officially known as the FNC-80.)

     Operation is by gas, but the gas system is a piston-driven system modified from the AKM’s system. The locking lugs on the rotating bolt fit into tracks on the barrel extension. Most of rest of the operation is as that of the FAL.  The area of the CAL that received most of the criticism, the difficult disassembly and reassembly of the CAL, has been greatly simplified in the FNC.  THE FNC is made is made from inexpensive steel stampings for most of the working parts, the receiver, and the handguards instead of expensive milled parts, and the RL cost is much less than the CAL.

     The folding stock folds to the right, and the FNC uses standard US/NATO magazines.  Operation is by gas, and strongly resembles that used by the AK series, though with more advanced technologies and materials, and with many improvements. The FNC has a gas cutoff for use when firing older rifle grenades, and it can also use the newer BTU and pass-through rifle grenades.  The receiver is made in two parts for field stripping and servicing; the upper receiver is of stamped steel, while the lower receiver is of aluminum alloy.  Sights consist of a protected fixed front post and a two-position flip rear with windage and elevation adjustments; the top of the receiver also has mounts for NATO-type night vision devices and optics.  The stock is of tubular steel covered with high-impact plastic, and folds to the right; fixed stocks are of a solid synthetic material.  Pistol grip, cocking handle, and fore-end are of high-impact plastic.  Standard FNCs are equipped with a 17.68-inch barrel having a 1:7 rifling twist to optimize them for firing SS-109 ammunition, but FNCs with 1:12 rifling twist (appropriate for older 5.56mm NATO ammunition) are available upon request.  The barrel is tipped by a flash suppressor that doubles as a muzzle brake, and still allows the use of rifle grenades of an older nature. The FNC can use the US M-7 bayonet or a bayonet designed specifically for the FNC.  Feed is from any STANAG-compliant magazine, but the standard magazines are 20-round for training and 30-round for combat.

     The FNC Paratroop (also known as simply the “Para” or the FNC Carbine) is a shortened version of the FNC assault rifle, similar in concept to other such short assault rifle designs.  it is capable of using a bayonet, rifle grenades, the RAW, or mounting an appropriate grenade launcher. Virtually all of the FNC Paratroop made have a folding stock, but a fixed synthetic stock is available for the FNC Paratroop, which also has a 14.3-inch barrel tipped by a conventional flash suppressor.

     The Indonesians produce the standard variants of the FNC in Indonesia under license. They call the FNC the Pindad 1, and the FNC Paratroop the Pindad 2.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon is so ubiquitous that is can be found almost anywhere, though production in Belgium virtually ceased after the French invasion of Belgium, leaving Indonesia as the almost sole producer of FNCs.  In the Twilight 2000 world, Latvia is not using the FNC.  US Army Special Forces operating in France or French-occupied territory were also often seen carrying FNCs.  FNCs taken from captured Belgian troops were often handed out to French militia forces and Belgian or Dutch civilians loyal to France.

     Merc 2000 Notes:  As the FNC can be found almost in every corner of the globe, it is a common weapon in the hands of mercenary and “unofficial” troops of several governments worldwide.

FN CAL

     Notes: The FN CAL is an example of a weapon that was at once ahead of its time, built using ideas that were technologically possible at the time, and suffering from the political whims of the time.  The CAL (Carbine, Automatic, Legere) was the first attempt by FN to “shrink” the FAL into a form that would be preferred by countries now using the smaller 5.56mm NATO round.  This didn’t work at first – the FAL was ill-designed to fire the 5.56mm NATO cartridge, even when scaled down.  In 1969, when full production started, orders came in from all over the globe; strangely enough, the Belgian military remained unimpressed by the CAL. In addition, the CAL was often returned by the countries who adopted them or bought them for testing.  The CAL was dropped from production in 1975.

    Most of my readers know the story behind the NATO adoption of the 5.56mm round – the original candidate was a British-designed .280 caliber round, but the US rammed through the adoption of their own 7.62mm round due to their greater political power at the time.  About a decade later, it was realized that the 7.62mm NATO round simply had too much power for a lightweight assault rifle – and again, the US used its political muscle to make their 5.56mm round the official NATO assault rifle round.

     FN had considerable success with its FAL, firing the then-standard 7.62mm NATO round, but they had seen the writing on the wall in the early 1960s, and began designing a smaller version of the FAL to fire what became the new standard NATO round.  The result was the FN CAL, first produced in 1966.  Externally, the CAL did look like a smaller version of the FAL – but internally, a lot of changes had to be made to make a smaller FAL work with the 5.56mm NATO round.  Though the operation is mostly similar to that of the FAL, the CAL uses a cam-operated rotating bolt and carrier system instead of the tilting bolt and bolt carrier of the FAL.  The CAL uses a “double interrupted thread” on the bolt carrier instead of the multi-lugged bolt used by most selective-fire rifles of the time.  In particular, the FAL’s tilting bolt mechanism was unsuitable for the smaller cartridge, so the CAL was designed to use a rotating bolt instead.  The charging handle was also moved to the right side, which was desired by many FAL shooters.  The charging handle was moved forward, since otherwise it would block the ejection port.  The CAL retained most of the FAL’s other features, suitably downsized, and externally looks like a smaller FAL.

     Well ahead of almost anybody else, FN used a selective-fire system that allowed for 3-round bursts as well as fully automatic fire.  (The fire selector therefore has four settings on it.) The rifling was optimized for the 5.56mm NATO round used at the time – the US M-193 and its European equivalents.  (Firing SS-109 through the CAL will quickly wear the barrel extension, feed ramp, and bore.) The front sight was a protected post adjustable for elevation and windage, and the rear sight a non-adjustable two-position flip-type.  (This sort of adjustable sight setup was a peculiarity of many European-designed rifles of the time.)  Construction is of light, stamped sheet steel for the receiver, operating parts of steel forgings, and a very well-made barrel of the best steel available. The barrel length was 18.5 inches (too long to be considered a carbine by modern standards), and tipped by a compact muzzle brake.  The stock may be a fixed, solid stock or a folding, tubular stock.

     Unfortunately, the CAL suffered from many of the same problems as the M-16: it was sensitive to dirt, and the barrel corroded easily.  In addition, the folding stock tended to fall off at the time of its introduction.  It was also a very complex weapon, both for unit armorers and the average user field-stripping it.  The magazines used with the CAL are proprietary, and cannot be used with other weapons; the CAL also cannot use the magazines of other weapons.  Most of these problems were quickly solved (except for the complexity problem and the proprietary magazines), but the damage to its reputation was already done, and few countries actually bought the CAL; even then, they bought them only in small numbers, and there were many cancelled orders.  The countries which did buy them tended to quickly withdraw them from service.  It does, however, tend to pop up here and there every so often even today, mostly in Central and South America and Africa.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon was very much a reject at the time of the Twilight War; most CALs in use are taken from old stocks in armories and are normally found in the hands of civilian or paramilitary militias.

FN F2000 IWS

     Notes: The F2000 IWS (Integrated Weapon System) is not exactly a simple assault rifle; it is a weapon system consisting of a bullpup assault rifle and a number of snap-on attachments and weapons to suit the F2000 to nearly any sort of tactical situation. 

     The F2000 assault rifle is unusual for its extraction; it throws the spent case forward up a channel and then ejects it just to the rear of the flash suppresser.  This is an added layer of complexity, but means that left and right handed people can easily use it without worrying about spent casings being ejected in their faces or down their shirts.  The cases are not ejected into the air violently like most rifles; they fall gently to the ground.  This minimizes the chance of detection of the firer by an observant enemy.  The F2000 is equipped with an optical sight with 1.6x magnification; there are backup iron sights, and the optic sight is mounted on a MIL-STD-193 (Picatinny) rail.  An optional feature is a complete “fire control system;” this module has a sight with a 2.6x magnification, laser rangefinder, ballistic computer, and an IR laser aiming module.

     The amount of attachments and weapon accessories that may be fitted to the F2000 is staggering.  They include, but are not limited to: a flashlight mount, a laser aiming module, a 12-gauge shotgun, a 40mm grenade launcher, a less-than lethal weapon module (any of these under the barrel), and a variety of aiming modules, scopes, or sights on top of the receiver.

     In the Fall of 2007, a civilian/police version of the F2000 was released: the FS2000.  Though very similar to the F2000, several key features are changed.  Of course, the FS2000 is a semiautomatic-only rifle, with a sear that makes conversion to automatic fire extremely difficult.  Since many countries will not allow a civilian rifle to have a barrel as short as that of the F2000 (15.5 inches), the barrel is lengthened to 17.4 inches.  The fire selector, difficult to use by a left-handed shooter on the standard F2000, was moved to a position under the trigger. Multiple chamber-loaded indicators were added, both visual and tactile. The FS2000 is not sold with the 1.6x optical sight of the F2000 (though it can be bought separately), and is not compatible with the F2000’s computerized fire-control system.  (The MIL-STD-1913 rail and the backup iron sights remain.)  The FS2000 cannot mount a grenade launcher, nor can it mount a bayonet or a shotgun module, but other F2000 accessories can still be mounted.  The reduc7ed-capacity versions of the magazine are identical to the standard magazine, but they have a molded-in block in them.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

     Merc 2000 Notes: French, US, and British troops have all “unofficially” combat-tested this weapon in various conflicts around the world; they are reportedly quite pleased with them.

FN SCAR

     Notes: Originally known as the SCAR-L (Light) and SCAR-H (Heavy), this weapon was designed for the US military’s SCAR (Special Operations Combat Assault Rifle) competition, though the competition and development of the SCAR is still ongoing; supposedly special ops units have been using small numbers of the SCAR since 2008.  The SCAR is essentially a highly-modified FNC, and comes in two base versions: SCAR-16 (firing 5.56mm NATO) and SCAR-17 (firing 7.62mm NATO).  A further version is planned for the future, firing 7.62mm Kalashnikov, and will probably also be designated as some variant of the SCAR-17 name; other calibers may be added in the future, and some of these possible chamberings are noted below.  90% of SCAR parts are interchangeable between the different calibers.  It is intended as primarily a short to medium-range weapon; its short barrel is especially suited to close assault situations.  The SCAR in both iterations includes a MIL-STD-1913 rail atop the receiver and handguards with MIL-STD-1913 rails as 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock.  The top handguard rail joins seamlessly to the receiver’s top rail, presenting one long rail.  The weapon has iron sights, but it primarily meant to operate with a variety of NATO optics, laser sights, or other accessories.  The barrels are designed to be changed in 5 minutes without needing headspace or timing adjustments, without tools, and not needing an armorer’s skills.  Standard barrel for the SCAR-16 is 13.9 inches; CQB barrel lengths are 9.9 inches, and the “sniper” barrel uses an 18-inch heavy barrel.  The stock folds, and slopes slightly, allowing the user to shoot from behind cover while presenting a lower profile; it also slides, which not only allows for general length adjustments, but for length of pull adjustments.  It also has an adjustable cheekpiece.  The retainer for the stock doubles as a brass deflector.  The SCAR cannot use the M-203, but can use the M-203 PI; however, it is specifically designed to use a variant of the Heckler & Koch AG-36 grenade launcher.  The controls are ambidextrous, and the selector lever requires only a 90-degree rotation instead of the 180-degree rotation of the M-16/M-4 to operate all modes of fire.  The charging handle is on the side, but may be placed on either side to accommodate both left and right-handed shooters. 

     As of early 2006, the SCAR-L has been designated the Mk 16 or SCAR-16, and the SCAR-H the Mk 17 or SCAR-17.  By far, the primary chamberings have been 5.56mm NATO for the SCAR-16 and 7.62mm NATO for the SCAR-17; in particular, the .50 Beowulf, .300 Winchester Short Magnum, and .300 Short-Action UltraMag chamberings appear to have been experimental only.

     In late 2009, FNH USA (FN’s US-based facilities) announced the FN SCAR-16S.  This is a semiautomatic-only version of the Mk 16 in 5.56mm NATO. The SCAR-16S is virtually identical to the standard SCAR-16, but the controls are almost identical to those of the AR-15 series, and the standard barrel length is 16.25 inches. At the same time, a SCAR-17S version was announced, chambered for 7.62mm NATO; it has just started production as I write this (mid-October 2010).

     The SCAR, particularly the SCAR-16, have become popular with US Special Operations and (in its civilian guise) in 3-Gun competitors.

     As of October of 2010, US acquisition of the SCAR (whether the SCAR-16 or SCAR-17) has been suspended by the Pentagon, even for special operations units.  No reason has been given for this suspension publicly as of yet.

     ISSC-Austria plan to have out by November 2011 a clone of the SCAR in .22 Long Rifle.  This version has a 16.25-inch barrel and is considerably lighter than the SCAR, but offers less expensive shooting in an otherwise SCAR package.  This is the ISSC-Austria MK 22, and is a semiautomatic rifle designed for civilian use.  For the most part, it otherwise has the same features as the SCAR-16, including magazines which look like those of the SCAR-16 (but are internally different).  In addition, the Mk 22 uses blowback operation, as the .22 Long Rifle cartridge does not have enough oomph to cycle a gas-operated mechanism.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The SCAR does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.