FN SCAR

Origins

The FN SCAR is a modern rifle from FN in Belgium. Its name stands for Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle. In the early 2000s US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) was arming its units with modified versions of the M4 Carbine and a mix of older 7.62mm rifles. In 2004 it held a competition for a new family of rifles. It wanted one modular design in two calibers, with the same layout, controls and training, whose barrels could be changed for different missions. FN Herstal, the maker of the FN FAL, won the contract in late 2004. The 5.56mm SCAR-L (Light) was designated Mk 16, and the 7.62mm SCAR-H (Heavy) became the Mk 17.

Design & Construction

The SCAR works with a short-stroke gas piston and a rotating bolt. Unlike the M16 Rifle, it does not blow gas back into the action, which helps keep it clean. The upper receiver is aluminum, with a full-length rail on top for sights and lights, and the lower receiver is polymer. The stock folds to the side and adjusts for length, and the rifle can be fired with the stock folded. The charging handle can be fitted on either side. Barrels are held in by bolts and can be changed by an armorer, with short close-quarters, standard and long versions for each caliber. The Mk 16 takes the same magazines as the M16 and M4, while the Mk 17 uses its own 20-round magazine. Both can carry FN's 40mm grenade launcher, designated Mk 13 by SOCOM. The Mk 20 Sniper Support Rifle is a 7.62mm SCAR with a longer, heavier barrel for precise semi-automatic fire, and FN also sells semi-automatic civilian versions, the SCAR 16S and 17S.

Combat Use

The US Army Rangers were the first unit to take the SCAR into combat, in Afghanistan in 2009, during the Global War on Terror. In 2010 SOCOM announced that it would stop buying the Mk 16. Its view was that the 5.56mm SCAR did not offer enough of an improvement over the M4 to justify the cost of replacing it, and that money was better spent on the Mk 17, with a possible kit to convert it to 5.56mm. Rifles already bought stayed in service. The Mk 17 was more popular, because it gave a 7.62mm rifle not much heavier than a 5.56mm carbine. It has been used by Rangers, US Navy SEALs and other special operations units. The Mk 20 fills much the same role for SOCOM as the Army's M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System. Many special operations units preferred the HK416, which kept the familiar M16 layout with a piston system of its own.

Legacy

Outside the United States, the SCAR has been adopted by a number of armies and special forces units. Belgium's own army took the SCAR-L as its standard rifle, France chose a precision version of the SCAR-H as a semi-automatic sniper rifle, and Peru was an early buyer. The SCAR's story shows how hard it is to replace a well-proven rifle. The Mk 16 was a good weapon, but not so much better than the M4 that SOCOM would pay to swap them. The Mk 17 succeeded because it gave special operations troops a light 7.62mm rifle that nothing else in their armories matched. Like the FAL before it, the SCAR has made FN's name one of the best known in modern military rifles.