Increasing accessibility is key to the survival of shooting. No plans to ditch the L98 at the moment.
But will there be a full-bore cadet variant of the next service rifle, when we ditch the L85?
Need Mystic Meg to answer that one.
Personally I’d say don’t bother and just give us whatever the regs have to avoid conversion costs.
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Have you ever seen an ND on automatic? I wouldn’t want to be around when it happened with someone not much heavier than the weapon.
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Exactly this, if we don’t have an exemption which allows us to hold the weapon outside of station armouries why do we need our own weapon?!
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By closing armouries and removing an entire ws from feasible service?
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I was RCO when a sear spring failed and an L98A2 went into automatic. The young cadet firer grouped excellently on target 
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I strongly suspect that if there isn’t a cadet variant then cadets won’t be firing it at all, and will be air rifle only (like the Scouts, but they have archery and axe throwing as well).
There is no work currently being undertaken to even consider future Cadet WSs. I, for one, believe there is a place for all those we currently have. However, I’d put money on the L81A2 not being replaced at its EOS and the L144A1 being phased-out before its EOS (despite there being engineering plans to resolve some issues with it). Maintaining a full-bore GP rifle is almost a certainty and, indeed, essential for the RAFAC to maintain its relevance to its parent Service. As someone else has said, there may be a case for, one day in the distant future, replacing the L98A2 with the L85Ax … but I reiterate that there is no such plan or even a feasibility study, etc., and there is nobody driving or asking for this.
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Let’s see what happens when the L85 goes EOS. We shouldn’t have to wait too long.
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We can’t stop RHQs from doing random stuff like closing armouries. No direction from HQ for that.
It’s 2030 or 2035 isn’t it? Can’t remember and I know it was extended not long back.
TK could develop a spine and actually manage his team?
An RC shouldn’t be allowed to go this far off-programme - if the HQ ambition is to “increase accessibility” then this is completely counter to that and detrimental to cadets.
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This is a consequence of the individual Group Captain being the DDH they can essentially run their region as they see fit.
The RC’s remit long predates the DDH concept. DDH is about ownership of risk, not management or strategy.
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Just FYI cadets (mainly army but a fair few CCF(RAF) as well were trained on and live fired the L86 LSW). Did this for many years until Iraq in 2001 (when coincidentally they were recalled & some poor sap in Afghanistan ending up with one that had been bashed about by 14 year old cadets for the previous decade)
There was even cadet shooting competitions for the LSWs pair so I can’t see any blocker (apart from legal) to cadets using a full automatic weapon.
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Yeah, the LSW (which later became a designated marksman’s rifle, as it was no good as a spt wpn) was considered safer for cadets firing auto because the bipod and rear pistol grip created a more stable firing position (i.e. it was harder to turn around with it and put a burst into the next firing detail).
Edit: Smashing the tritium sights was the main hazard.
P.P.S.: I almost forgot the gold-out butt-strap (or whatever that thing that rested on your shoulder was called).
And of course, as the RCO, range stopped and authorities notified, full investigation undertaken. What was the outcome.
RAFAC used the LSW from about 2013 to 2018 after which it was withdrawn, and it was used at CISSAM for competition shooting.
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I didn’t realise it was withdrawn as late as 2018. We’d moved over to the 5.56 mm LMG (Minimi) by 2006 (and I wasn’t exactly front line).