The Sterling submachine gun is a well renowned submachine gun of British design by George William Patchett – the head arms designer at Sterling Armaments Company in Dagenham, England, UK. The weapon is a select-fire, blowback operated submachine gun, utilising advanced primer ignition design and is chambered in the widely used 9×19mm cartridge. It is fondly remembered as a very reliable and rugged platform to this day by its users. It was initially adopted by the UK armed forces starting around 1953 replacing the earlier and more infamous STEN submachine gun and ended up being removed from active service in around 1994, replaced by the 5.56×45mm SA80 self-loading rifle. This platform of SMG has been used by a wide variety of countries across the globe and has also been manufactured by the UK, Canada, India and also Chile.