The future from Australia

The Sturmgewehr 77 is a good reference point. The Austrian army name indicates the year of introduction with the number 77. 1977 was a long time ago, and the AUG from STEYR ARMS was indeed a revolutionary design back then, but it has become quite conservative and hasn't seen much development since. Downunder, the AUG was introduced as the F88. The Australians completely revamped the weapon, which is manufactured at LITHGOW, and released it as the F90. At the BEHÖRDENTAGEN 2025 by TEUTODEFENCE, we were pleasantly surprised to see the advancement of the F90 at the THALES booth: the F90 MBR – Modular Bullpup Rifle. Unfortunately, we couldn't fire the weapon, but it feels great in hand. We want to take a look with you at what the Australians (who might be in Munich) have developed further on the AUG. 

Let's start from the beginning. The flash hider is still Austrian, but behind it, there are many new features. The F90 has a barrel that has been lightened and has grooves for better surface area for cooling. The Australians have moved beyond the Austrian Finnrip. And they value traditional proximity: Mounted on the barrel is the "bayonet lug." Yes, a bayonet is intended to be fitted for use in melee combat. 

The weapon still resembles the AUG and maintains the classic separation of the housing (metal) and stock (plastic): the flimsy folding grip is gone, and the Australians have opted for a removable and interchangeable front grip mounted on a Picatinny rail. Here's the practical solution with a kind of "grippod," a grip with a deployable bipod. The housing has a relatively high, continuous rail. This makes the weapon open to all optics that the user wishes to mount. 

The stock differs from the welded Austrian version; it consists of two parts that are screwed together. The trigger and fire selector lever are aligned. At the front, we see a release button for the magazine that can be operated with the index finger of the shooting hand. We find this super practical, but there seem to be issues when the weapon is carried hanging in front of the body. It appears that the magazine can become dislodged when hitting the body. That's suboptimal… 

In the arch that protects the hand, a part can be removed so that the trigger can be used with a 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher. The fire selector lever is straightforward: Safe, single shot, and automatic fire are the three positions. This eliminates the “we go all the way”-automatic fire, which often leads to rattling during single shots and nervousness. 

The magazines are no longer specific AUG magazines but STANAG magazines. This provides a vast pool of magazines to choose from. The housing locking mechanism looks just like that of the "good old" AUG. 

It's interesting that one can release the magazine in two different ways from the back. From below, like with an AUG, and from the sides, both right and left. This gives a total of three options for the problem of magazine changes in a bullpup. And that’s already very good. 

The stock has mounts for the weapon sling. We saw one eyelet at the front of the housing and another eyelet at the back on the end cap. This is well positioned. 

Here is the end cap and the pin through the firing mechanism. The interior of the weapon is AUG. We immediately disassembled the F90 MBR in the field, but we were too busy to photograph the parts. 

The weapon has an integrated deflector so that you do not have to catch the casings when switching shoulders. This was a common problem with bullpups until CORVUS DEFENSIO invented its screw-in deflector. 

Here again is the attachment point for the weapon sling on the body and QD for the sling. That's how we like it. 

The deflector and ejection port in detail. 

And here is the front magazine release and the trigger from the other side. 

Right above the trigger, there is a long, 90-degree offset Picatinny rail along the housing. Australians mount the weapon laser on the right side. By the way, the barrel and housing are fixed together, eliminating the AUG-typical practical tilting of the barrel in between. The reason given for this was the weapon's precision when we asked "why." And it wouldn't have gone unnoticed that the StG77 suffered from that issue. 

Here, once more, is the housing with the rail, and visible at the right front is the gas pressure mechanism. We like the eyelet here; it means you can adjust it very nicely with the tip of a cartridge when it gets hot. 

And what is of course really different is the stock, which we particularly like. It has a narrow, very maneuverable grip that now dispenses with the typical paddle at the end, which was only made because the infantryman shoots from the shoulder and thus pulls the stock into the shoulder. The F90 MBR weighs a light 3.25 kilos in total. Overall, it's really great what has been done with the weapon, a very appealing further development that relies on a reliable base and has adapted functionality. We would have liked that...

This is the manufacturer's video about the weapon and below is a flyer for the F90 MBR.