Historical Weaponry of The Australian Army - 1970s, 1980s & 1990s

1970s, 1980s & 1990s

After the Vietnam war the Australian Army suffered severe budget cut-backs, and expenditure on equipment decreased as a result. The army was scaled back in size, and experienced a period of very little overseas deployment for the first time in the post–World War II period. Despite this the Army did manage to continue to modernise its weaponry and equipment. During the 1980s traditional long-arms such as the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR) were phased out and finally withdrawn from front line service by 1990, and replaced by the locally produced F88 Austeyr, a derivative of the Austrian Steyr AUG which is still in service as of 2008. During the 1980s the khaki field uniforms that had been used by the Australian Army since its foundation in 1901were replaced by Disruptive Pattern Combat Uniform.