CAR 816

The Caracal CAR 816 shares lineage to the Heckler & Koch HK416. The principal firearms engineers for the CAR 816 were Robert Hirt and Chris Sirois. Hirt was instrumental in the development of the HK416. Following his time with Heckler & Koch, Hirt was recruited by SIG Sauer to work with then SIG engineer Chris Sirois on an improved version of the HK416: the SIG Sauer SIG516 (they later designed the SIG716 and SIG MCX/SIG MPX). Hirt and Sirois were later recruited by Caracal to develop a new rifle iteration that was superior to both the HK416 and SIG516 series. From this, the CAR 816 series was created. In 2020, the CAR 816 was considered by Dasan Machineries for South Korean "Special Operations Submachine Gun Type-I" program as a candidate to replace the Daewoo Precision Industries K1 used by the Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command. Instead, they submitted the DSAR-15PC as a domestic design became a tender requirement. On 5 March 2021, Caracal International LLC and PT Pindad Indonesia signed a partnership for joint-production of CAR 816 for the Indonesian military. The assault rifle designated as PC 816 V1 (Pindad Caracal 816 Version 1), firstly introduced by Pindad in 2022. On February 18, 2025, at NAVDEX 2025 in Abu Dhabi, the UAE's EDGE Group and CARACAL, its small arms subsidiary, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia's Ketech Asia for local assembly and production of the CAR 816 assault rifle. == Design ==

The CAR 816 is based on the AR-15 platform ergonomic architecture, but uses a short-stroke gas piston operating system (unlike the AR-15's piston-operated gas impingement system) with a user-adjustable gas system. Feeding The CAR 816 features a Draft STANAG 4179 compliant magazine well and is fed with STANAG magazines with a standard capacity of 30 rounds. Other STANAG compatible box and drum magazines can be used. With the help of the three position regulator (normal, adverse conditions and suppressor/silencer settings), the gas system can be adjusted to function reliably with various propellant, projectile, fouling, operating environment and configuration specific pressure behavior. The CAR 816 uses a mil-spec direct trigger. The selector settings are: safe, semi-automatic fire and automatic fire. Ergonomics The CAR 816 handguard features four Picatinny rails, allowing direct accessory attachment onto the mounting points, and can be removed without tools. The CAR 816 basic version features rail mounted flip up rear and front iron sights. The integrated rail on the upper receiver and its continuation on the handguard at the 12 o'clock position allows for the adaptation of various aiming optics. The shoulder stock is a telescoping 6 position type stock which is adjustable for length of pull. Interoperability with M4 The CAR 816 shares most components with the M4 arms family, with a few exceptions. The M4 carbine profile hammer forged chrome lined barrel has a twist rate and features a standard A2-style flash suppressor at its muzzle end. All lower receiver components are interchangeable with the M4 arms family. The amount of movement between the upper and lower receiver is minimized by a tension tube. Due to their complete manufacture in the United Arab Emirates, the arms are not subject to United States’ imposed International Traffic in Arms Regulations, whilst sharing most components with the M4 arms family extensively used by the US Armed Forces. ==Variants==

The weapon is available in semi-automatic and select-fire configurations with four barrel lengths and differing manufacturer stated effective ranges: CAR816 personal defence weapon PDW variant with a barrel; effective range CAR816 compact Compact variant with a barrel; effective range CAR816 carbine Carbine variant with a barrel; effective range CAR816 assault rifle Assault rifle variant with a barrel; effective range . who was killed in action in Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. Foreign variants The CAR 816 is joint-produced in Indonesia with PT Pindad as the PC 816 V1 (Pindad Caracal 816 Version 1). ==Users==

Current users • - carbine variant used by the Republican Guard. • - PC 816 V1 in used with Kopassus, Kostrad and the Indonesian Marine Corps • - 80,000 assault rifles for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces Failed bids • : 93,895 carbines ordered in September 2018. The order was cancelled in September 2020 in favour of domestically developed carbines under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Later that month Caracal offered to manufacture the weapons in India. In 2022, Caracal responded to a tender for procurement of 4.25 lakh carbines for Indian Armed Forces. • - Considered by Dasan Machineries as a candidate to replace the Daewoo Precision Industries K1 used by the Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command. Instead, Dasan Machineries submitted the DSAR-15PC as a domestic design became a tender requirement. ==References==