Army loses combat rifle on moor

The SA80 is capable of firing 700 rounds per minute

An assault rifle and radio equipment have been lost during an army training exercise on Dartmoor.

The SA80 automatic weapon and secure portable radio system went missing on a 42 Engineer Regiment training weekend, the Ministry of Defence (MoD)said.

An MoD spokesman said: "A military police investigation is under way due to a missing rifle and radio."

He added that he could not confirm reports that the weapon was taken after a soldier fell asleep.

"They went missing after a training exercise last weekend on the south side of Dartmoor," he said.

The equipment belonging to the Oxfordshire-based regiment went missing in the early hours of Sunday at Homing Beam, a regular military training area near Princetown.

200 weapons lost

An Army spokesman said the gun was not loaded and investigators were taking the incident very seriously.

He said no ammunition was missing and the MoD Police's special investigation branch was leading the inquiry.

The spokesman claimed such equipment losses were a rare occurrence. However, in 2006 the BBC discovered that more than 200 weapons had been lost by or stolen from the British military over a nine-year period.

The SA80 rifle is one of the British military's standard combat weapons.

It takes a 30-round magazine and is capable of firing 700 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition per minute.

There has been a military presence on Dartmoor for more than 200 years. The MoD has licences for firing on 13,000 hectares of National Park land.