Austeyr

Austeyr is the Australian designation for a family of 5.56×45mm NATO bullpup assault rifles based on the Austrian Steyr AUG design. The program began in the 1980s under the Australian Defence Force’s Land 90 project to replace the L1A1 SLR, with production carried out in Australia by Australian Defence Industries (ADI) and later Thales Australia. The name Austeyr combines Australia and Steyr, reflecting the collaboration between the Australian industry and the Steyr company.

The Austeyr family is built around the Steyr AUG’s bullpup configuration, in which the action and magazine are located behind the trigger group, allowing a longer barrel in a compact overall length. It uses a 30-round detachable magazine and typically features a selective-fire trigger mechanism. Early Austeyr rifles used integrated optical sights, with later variants adopting modular optics rails to accommodate various scopes and red-dot sights. Australian variants introduced improvements such as a more robust bolt, updated furniture, and enhanced manufacturing standards.

Variants and modernization have included the standard F88 Austeyr, issued to the Australian Army and other services since the late 1980s, along with ballistically shorter configurations and updated systems. In more recent years, improved variants such as the EF88 (Enhanced F88) have been introduced to provide better ergonomics, reliability, and compatibility with contemporary accessories. The Austeyr platform has also seen export evaluations and limited sales to other security services.