FN F2000 and FN FS2000 In the late 1980's and early 1990's, FN Herstal began to develop its next assault rifle. Their mission was to create a modern, modular weapon, that features all the modern assault rifle features such as compact bullpup layor, ambidextrous handling, modular design, and plenty of options with room to expand. This new assault rifle called the F2000 assault rifle was released to the public in 2001. The design of the FN F2000 allowed the rifle to be tailored for any particular mission or tactical situation. With many different accessories and options available, the functionality of the FN F2000 can be altered, for example, for peacekeeping missions the F2000 can be fitted with a less than lethal M303 under barrel module, which fires tear gas or marker projectiles using compressed air, or it could be fitted with various 40 millimeter FN EGLM grenade launchers and a proprietary computerized fire control system, instead of the standard low-magnification optical sights. The civilian version of the FN F2000 assault rifle is known as the FS2000, with a somewhat longer barrel and a limited to semi-automatic fire, otherwise the same firearm. The F2000 and FS2000 rifle is a gas operated, rotating bolt, selective-fire weapon.  Featuring a polymer stock and a bull-pup layout, the F2000 and FS2000 utilizes a short-stroke gas piston and a 7-lug rotating bolt which locks into the barrel extension. Unique to the F2000 rifle is a front ejection system allowing the spent cases to extract from the chamber, travel from the rear part of the gun to the ejection port near the muzzle via a special ejection tube and fall out of the gun at the safe distance from the shooters' face, this is achieved by a special swinging guide that enters the way of the closing bolt, and directs the spent case to the ejection tube. At the same time this is happening, the lower lugs of the bolt are stripping a fresh cartridge from the magazine. The FN F2000 and FN FS2000 features a cocking handle that is mounted well forward, just above the fore grip, it can easily be operated with the right hand when the gun is held left handed. Together all these features form the F2000 and FS2000, making it the first genuinely ambidextrous bullpup, able to be used with equal ease by right and left handed shooters. The FN F2000 standard and FN FS2000 standard comes "Out-Of-Box" balanced perfectly around the pistol grip. Built with standard rails on the top of the weapon, and a mounting point ahead of trigger guard, where additional modules may be installed. Standard configuration, the upper rail mount is fitted with a 1.6x magnification optical sight, and the lower mounting point is covered by a removable handguard.