Assault rifle

"The 7.62x51mm assault rifle is designed for close-quarter combat, utilizing a shortened barrel and 'bullpup' design for increased maneuverability. An additional underhand 20mm HE launcher increases the rifle's effectiveness against a variety of targets."

- Inventory description.

The ZHL-U1953 is a weapon in Deus Ex.

Background
The ZHL-U1953 is a modern bullpup automatic rifle using 7.62 NATO rounds. It also has an integrated grenade launcher for clearing out tight areas, such as foxholes. The assault rifle is the standard rifle of many armies and paramilitary forces throughout the world. Even UNATCO, the premier anti-terrorist force, has adopted the assault rifle as its standard rifle.

Characteristics
An unmodified assault rifle can be good or terrible, depending on your Rifle skills. If your Rifle skill is "Untrained" or "Trained", the assault rifle is unfavorable and can barely hit a target from medium range. However, if your Rifle skill is "Advanced" or "Master", its accuracy is good enough so that you can take out medium range targets with ease, especially if you lock onto your target, then fire. Regardless of your Rifle skill, the assault rifle has horrid recoil, so don't expect to be able to fire off multiple bursts with a good amount of accuracy.

A modded assault rifle is a great weapon to have. Accuracy mods can bump its accuracy to almost that of the sniper rifle's, recoil mods make it easy to fire off multiple bursts in succession, and clip mods can give you a ton of firepower. If you're upgrading the Rifle skill for whatever reason, make sure to grab an assault rifle and upgrade it. It'll be really helpful in situations where the sniper rifle and the shotguns might not be the most effective weapons. With enough Rifle skill trained to increase the damage from 3 to 4, you will be able to kill normal enemies with a single burst to the head. Add a silencer, and save yourself considerable sniper rifle ammunition.

If you obtain ammo for the 20mm grenade launcher, keep it! The 20mm is devastating, but ammo for it is very rare. Use it against either groups of enemies or robots. Blowing up one human target with it is a waste of ammo. Remember that when firing the 20mm, the grenade will follow a straight path for a second, then suddenly dip down and hit the ground. The blast radius is larger than you might expect: great for surprise attacks into guardrooms, not so great if you don't stand far enough back.

Locations
The assault rifle can first be obtained by killing or knocking out the UNATCO troop that appears after you find Leo Gold at the Statue of Liberty. Afterward, NSF troops will begin to wield it, and a majority of UNATCO and MJ-12 troops will use it as well.