and police forces. The issued three-point sling is in black color (unlike the olive-drab for standard sling), with a buckle similar to the one for the ALICE LC-2 belt. Individual JSDF members were also allowed to purchase their own commercially available models for their own use if they wished. Variants Type 89-F The only variant of the Type 89 is the Type 89-F rifle, also known as the Type 89 Para, which has a folding stock compared to the fixed stock of the standard Type 89. The Type 89 Para is issued to airborne soldiers, tankers, recon soldiers, and armored infantry soldiers. The stock folds to the left side in order to not cover the safety selector on the right side. ACIES carbine As part of the development of the JSDF's Advanced Combat Infantry Equipment System (先進個人装備)—which is the approximate equivalent of the American Future Soldier program—some Type 89 Rifles have been modified to a carbine format with an overall length of about 800 millimeters, a four-sided rail system, a polymer retractable stock, and a shorter barrel. Publicity photographs taken at exhibitions hosted by the Technical Research and Development Institute of the Japanese Ministry of Defense (TRDI) also show that the third generation of the prototyping process for ACIES has now produced a full size version of this modified Type 89 with a retractable stock and rail system. That variant has a full-length barrel and an overall length of about 940 millimeters. An underbarrel digital interface switch connected to a foregrip has also been developed, along with an unusually large top-mounted sighting system. The sighting system incorporates a ranging device and a video camera so that, at least under shooting range conditions, it is possible to hold the rifle at a distance from the body to train and fire it around corners—much like analogous foreign systems. There was also some evidence of evaluation of other assault rifles as possible replacements for the Type 89, but this may no longer be the case. References Bibliography External links Official JGSDF Page Official HOWA page 5.56 mm assault rifles Rifles of Japan Cold War weapons of Japan Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1989