List of Cold War weapons and land equipment of the United Kingdom

This list deals with all land-based equipment used by the British Armed Forces during the Cold War period. This includes small arms, artillery, AFVs, SAMs and lorries.

Small arms

Rifles

• Lee–Enfield – Main service rifle till the 1950s and afterwards adapted for a variety of specialist roles.
• EM-2 rifle – Experimental rifle adopted very briefly.
• L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle – Main Cold War service rifle.
• SA80 L85 rifle – Adopted right at the end of the Cold War.

Sniper rifles

• Accuracy International Arctic Warfare – Designated L96A1 replaced L42A1a Lee Enfield variant in 1985.

Sidearms

• Enfield No. 2 – In service early on in the Cold War.
• Webley Revolver – Substitute for Enfield No 2.
• Browning Hi-Power – Main sidearm during the Cold War.

Machine guns

• Vickers machine gun – Not declared obsolete till 1968.
• Bren light machine gun – L4 variant in service throughout the Cold War.
• FN MAG – Main British machine gun of Cold War and present day as L7.

Submachine guns

• Sten – Used very early on, replaced in 1960
• Sterling submachine gun – Main submachine gun

Grenades

• Mills bomb – In use until the 1970s
• M26 grenade – L2 variant replaced the Mills bomb.

Infantry anti-tank weapons

• PIAT – still in use in 1950s
• M20 Super Bazooka – Replaced PIAT used early on.
• Carl Gustaf 8.4cm recoilless rifle
• MILAN – standard from the 1970s for the rest of the Cold War.
• M72 LAW

Mortars

• Two-inch mortar – Still in use till 1965
• L9A1 51 mm light mortar – Main Cold War light mortar
• ML 3-inch mortar – in service through to the 1960s
• L16 81mm mortar – Main Cold War and present day mortar.
• ML 4.2-inch mortar – saw service in 1960s

Artillery

Field artillery

• M116 howitzer – Saw use into 1950s in its mountain and airborne artillery role
• Ordnance QF 25-pounder – Still saw active use till 1960s when they were relegated to non-combat roles.
• OTO Melara Mod 56 – Saw short service as L5 pack howitzer from 1960s to mid-1970s.
• L118 light gun – entered service in mid 1970s and today is main field artillery piece.

Self-propelled artillery

• Sexton (artillery) – Saw service till 1956
• FV433 Abbot SPG – Main light SPG
• M109 howitzer – Main heavy SPG
• M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System – acquired late in the Cold War

Heavy anti-tank weapons

• 120 mm BAT recoilless rifle – Replaced in 1970s

Anti-aircraft weapons

Anti-aircraft guns

• Bofors 40 mm gun – L/70 variant used till 1977 in low altitude air defence

Surface-to-air missiles

• Thunderbird (missile) – In use till 1977 for mobile high-altitude air defence.
• Bloodhound (missile) – Fixed air defence in UK from 1958 till 1991.
• Blowpipe (missile) – Man portable surface-to-air missile from 1975 til 1985
• Rapier (missile) – Came into service at start of 1970s and at the end replaced Bofors and thunderbird. Used until 2022.
• Javelin (surface-to-air missile) – Man portable surface-to-air missile replacing Blowpipe in use from 1984 to 1993.

Armoured fighting vehicles(AFVs)

Tanks

• Centurion – main British early Cold War tank.
• Conqueror – used from mid 50s to mid 60s to give long range anti-tank support to Centurions. Built to counter IS-3.
• Chieftain – main British tank of Cold War and mid Cold War.
• Challenger 1 – Main British tank late Cold War or 1980s.

Light tanks

• FV107 Scimitar – Entered service 1971
• FV101 Scorpion – Entered service 1973

Armoured cars

• Daimler Armoured Car
• Coventry armoured car
• Ferret armoured car
• Alvis Saladin

Armoured personnel carriers

• Alvis Saracen – Introduced 1952
• FV432 – Introduced in 1960s
• FV103 Spartan – Introduced in 1978
• Saxon (vehicle) – Introduced in 1983

Infantry fighting vehicles

• Warrior tracked armoured vehicle

Non-combat vehicles

Lorries

• Bedford RL
• Bedford TM
• Bedford TK (MK)