SAR 80 The Singapore Assault Rifle 80 ( SAR 80 ) is an indigenously built , conventional assault rifle from Singapore . History and development . In the late 1960s , the Singapore Armed Forces ( SAF ) adopted the AR - 15 as their main service rifle . Due to difficulties in obtaining the rifles from the United States , the Singaporean government purchased a license to domestically manufacture the M16 rifle , which was then designated the M16S1 . However , the domestic rifle requirements were not sufficient to allow Chartered Industries of Singapore ( CIS , now Singapore Technologies Kinetics ) to economically maintain operations at its rifle factory . Export sales of the M16S1 were not a viable option . Due to the requirements of the license agreement , CIS had to request permission from Colt and the US State Department to allow any export sale , which they rarely granted . In 1976 , CIS began to develop its own assault rifle with the aim to supply these rifles for the SAF and for foreign countries . To save time , CIS invited some engineers from the British company Sterling Armaments Ltd . In the early 1970s , Sterling engineers had developed their own 5 . 56 mm rifle design , the LAR , but this had been shelved when Sterling acquired a manufacturing licence for the US - designed Armalite AR - 18 assault rifle . While Sterling could not legally sublicense the AR - 18 , their LAR design was available . As a result , the new Singapore rifle design closely resembled the LAR with certain AR - 18 elements . The first prototypes came out in 1978 and the final design was approved by the SAF in 1984 under the name of SAR 80 . This rifle was used to some extent by Singapore Army and was also exported to some countries , including Slovenia , Sri Lanka , Somalia and Croatia . Design . The SAR 80 is a gas operated , selective fire weapon of simple construction . It uses short stroke gas piston that pushes the massive bolt carrier with rotating bolt . The bolt carrier rides on two guide rods . Each rod has a recoil spring around it , and the gas piston rod has its own return spring . The receiver is made from steel stampings . The pistol grip , handguards and buttstock are made from plastic . Ammo is fed using STANAG compatible magazines . The rifle has a gas regulator that can be turned off completely in order to safely launch rifle grenades from the muzzle . The successor to this weapon is the SR - 88 . Other issues . It has been mistakenly reported in many foreign articles ( including Jane ' s Guns Recognition Guide ) that this weapon is the standard assault rifle of the Singapore Army . On the contrary , it was not widely adopted and Singapore soldiers were never trained on the weapon . Although consideration was given to replace the M16S1 with the SAR 80 due to its lower manufacturing costs and reliability , it was not well received because it was less user friendly and heavier . As a result , the M16S1 remained the mainstay of the Singapore Armed Forces until it was replaced by the SAR 21 in early 2000s . Only 20 , 000 SAR 80 were bought by Singapore , and most have been phased out in favour of the newer SAR 21 . As of 2000 , an undisclosed number of SAR 80 are still being stored in Singapore Police armouries and used in Army logistics units .