Editing Colt Canada C7 and C8 (section)

===C7A2===
With Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, Diemaco and the Canadian Forces developed improvements to the C7A1 to better suit the operational situations at hand. The result, the C7A2, has a four-point telescoping stock unit similar to that of the C8 carbine and a three-rail TRIAD that is clamped on the front sight base to allow accessories to be attached. The selector lever, magazine release, and charging handle latch became ambidextrous.<ref name="Army1">{{cite web|url=http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/C7A2|title=C7A2|access-date=2009-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108050744/http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/C7A2|archive-date=2008-11-08|url-status=live}}</ref> Also, the C7A2 is issued with green colour furniture as standard.<ref name=TFB2>{{cite web |url=https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/10/12/guest-post-the-canadian-forces-c7a2-upgrade/ |title=The Canadian Forces C7A2 Upgrade |date=12 October 2011 |pages= |access-date=28 December 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Colt Canada C7A2 Tri-Rail.jpg|thumb|A Canadian soldier firing a C7A2. The C7A2 included a three-rail TRIAD mount clamped on its front sight.]]

These weapons are often seen with a similar plethora of accessories as their American counterparts given the overall commonalities of the system and the rail mounts. The C7A2 is also issued with the [[C79 optical sight|C79A2]] ELCAN optical gunsight with 3.4× magnification but with a uniform green rubber armored coating, but some soldiers who are issued it have either been issued or have purchased sights like the [[EOTech]] holographic weapons sight and the [[Trijicon]] [[Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight|ACOG]].<ref name="casr.ca">{{cite news|title=Canadian American Strategic Review - Canadian Forces Automatic Rifles|url=http://www.casr.ca/101-army-smallarm-1.htm|date=May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706171606/http://casr.ca/101-army-smallarm-1.htm|archive-date=2011-07-06}}</ref>

Within an eight-man section, six soldiers will normally carry a C7A2: the section commander and second in command, two grenadiers and two riflemen, with only the machine gunners carrying a [[C9A2]] LMG. The C7A2 is considered a "mid-life" upgrade for the C7 family. The addition of the TRIAD rail mount has made it easier for soldiers to attach accessories such as [[Laser sight (firearms)|laser designator]] and tactical lights.<ref name="casr.ca"/> Many A2s are also seen with folding grips from [[Cadex Defence|Cadex Inc.]] under the handguards which can store 2 [[CR123|CR123 batteries]].

The Canadian Forces is looking to upgrade and modernize their stockpile of C7A2 assault rifles, although nothing is yet official or certain as of 2022. One of the biggest upgrades that may be implemented is the replacement of the standard flat-top upper receiver with standard handguards, handguard end cap and front sight base with a monolithic upper receiver with integrated aluminium quad-rail handguard for increased modularity with accessories and free-floating the barrel for augmented precision. This would put the fleet of service rifles of the Canadian Armed Forces on par with Colt Canada's latest offerings and upgrades of the Danish and Dutch militaries who have adopted rifles with monolithic upper receivers.

This variant will require the use of the Colt Canada M203A1 with a different mounting system due to the new aluminium quad-rail handguard. Since Colt Canada developed and released the MRR (Modular Rail Rifle) that uses a monolithic upper receiver with the [[Magpul Industries|Magpul]] [[M-LOK]] attachment system, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) might be heading in that direction instead, along with a shorter, {{convert|18.6|in|adj=on}} barrel, instead of the standard {{convert|20|in|0|adj=on}} barrel, and straight gas tube with a low-profile gas block<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.coltcanada.com/mrr.html |title=Colt Canada Modular Rail Rifle (MRR) |access-date=2017-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427020337/http://www.coltcanada.com/mrr.html |archive-date=2017-04-27 |url-status=live }}</ref> The possibility of using integrated suppressors is also something that is being looked into. A shorter charging-handle latch will be used instead of the very long C7A2 latch, which gets caught on equipment and vests, causing the latch to bend and break the charging-handle.