The AR-18 is a design from the ArmaLite company to profit from the wave of .223 Remington rifles entering the market, as they had sold their AR-15 patent to Colt Firearms prior to it being adopted as the US Army's standard combat rifle, receiving not a cent in license revenues. Unlike the AR-15, the AR-18 is a short-stroke gas piston design, and is largely stamped and welded. This means it is much easier to produce in less industrialised countries, pointing to its purpose as an export rifle. It is not compatible with AR-15 magazines, which would later become part of NATO's STANAG standardisation program, though most gunsmiths can perform this conversion quite easily. The design makes use of plastic parts to reduce weight.
A number of Zerman factories produce AR-18s by license deep within the Great Dividing Range. It is the standard infantry rifle of most of these peoples' defence forces.