The Latvian military is once again rearming - a contract worth 13 million euros has been signed on the purchase of assault rifles for the needs of the army, the civilian militia "Home Guard" and the State Border Guard.
The German G36, according to the Baltic media, will be acquired from Heckler & Koch GmbH. Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis noted that the purchase of assault rifles and other weapons will provide the Armed Forces and the Home Guard with modern weapons that meet NATO standards.
With an American store
The piquancy of the situation is that these weapons, seemingly meeting NATO standards and conditionally considered modern, have for some time ceased to meet the needs of their users. First of all, the Bundeswehr itself abandoned the G36 - the head of the German military department Ursula von der Leyen announced this back in 2015. “In agreement with the army leadership, it was decided to draw the line irrevocably. After almost 20 years of using the G36, we want to equip the Bundeswehr with a new generation of automatic rifles,”the minister said, noting that the claims are related to the incorrect operation of the sighting system when the weapon overheats.
Indeed, the Zeiss collimator, which the rifle is equipped with, caused a lot of complaints from users. They blamed the device for the tunnel effect - the viewing angle is small and in battle does not allow normal control of the space. The sight is equipped with a special system that ensures operation without the use of batteries in natural light. In the room, it must be turned on, which wastes precious seconds. Moreover, in the turmoil of the battle, you can easily forget about it. In addition, the scope fogs up in the rain.
Discontent is also caused by the magazine latch - small and very tight, uncomfortable when working with gloves. The stores themselves are made of rather fragile plastic, especially at low temperatures. It cracks easily, which in turn leads to cartridge distortion and delays in firing. Therefore, users prefer American-made stores made of aluminum rather than regular ones.
Of course, these problems can be eliminated with upgrades carried out at the level of military workshops, and they are not a reason to abandon the G36. The Bundeswehr is trying not to expand on the main reasons. The secrecy is explained simply: 167 thousand rifles, which will be confiscated from the troops, must be put somewhere. And while there is a hope to sell them to someone - the same Latvia, it is necessary to use it.
Previously, Heckler & Koch ran a very aggressive advertising campaign, sparing no expense for PR. Even Hollywood was connected to the conviction of potential consumers that the G36 is the best weapon in the world, since the weapon looks very futuristic. Even the famous American shooting instructor and expert Gabriel Suarez in the book "Tactical carbine" included this rifle among the best, indicating, however, its incredibly high price. However, Suarez most likely dealt with a civilian, self-loading version of the rifle, on which the main shortcomings of the device are less noticeable and not so relevant.
Cool down in the heat of battle
The German military began to express dissatisfaction with the G36 after its very first combat use in Afghanistan. In 2009, when a Bundeswehr soldier was sent to perform "international duty", there were massive complaints that rifles instantly overheat and fail due to jamming. It was reported that after shooting in short bursts of two or three magazines, the accuracy of the weapon falls by a third. In 2010, a scandal erupted when German paratroopers were ambushed in Char-Dara. As established by the investigation, at least three fighters died due to the failure of weapons. The battle was captured in detail on action cameras mounted on the helmets of the soldiers, and everyone saw rifles fail one after another, and the paratroopers were forced to wait until they cooled down to resume fire. The enemy, armed with Chinese AKs, was not seriously damaged by German fire.
Paris refuseniks
It was not possible to write off such an obvious unsuitability of rifles for the specific conditions of Afghanistan - it turned out that in Western Europe they work not much better.
The French Ministry of Internal Affairs purchased the G36 for special forces police units, in particular for members of the Brigade anti-criminalite (BAC) police brigade in Paris. It was assumed that the special forces armed with the "best in the world" rifle would be head and shoulders above the terrorists who used AK in the Paris attacks.
A more gentle mode of operation of weapons than in the police special forces, where it works mainly at the shooting range and the range, is extremely rare - on the road and there are no problems with regular cleaning and maintenance, it is difficult to come up with. But the French were disappointed. They soon came to the conclusion: the G36, showing quite decent results when firing single shots, is completely unsuitable for automatic fire due to the rapid drop in accuracy when the barrel heats up and its tendency to fail.
Recall that the very transition to the low-impulse cartridge 5, 56x45 in Germany and in other countries was associated with the insufficient accuracy of assault rifles using the cartridge 7, 62x51 when firing bursts. So, in the Bundeswehr, the G36 replaced the G3 7, 62x51 (by the way, a fairly reliable rifle). That is, the transition turned out to be meaningless for the German military - instead of advantages, they received a lot of problems. Moreover, the new cartridge was inferior to the old one in power. And this is very significant with the massive use of personal body armor.
There are no recoilless machines
In 2015, after the refusal to purchase G36, the Bundeswehr command ordered 600 G27P automatic rifles "for a transitional period", which were supposed to arm fighters of foreign missions. That is, those who went to places where they would most likely have to use weapons. This fact, which is the actual recognition of the complete unsuitability of the rifle and therefore not too advertised, is the last nail in the G36's coffin.
The inevitable question: why does the Latvian Ministry of Defense buy a worthless rifle? Moreover, the military doctrine of a small but very proud republic presupposes waging a guerrilla war against an aggressor. Obviously, with a weapon that turned out to be unreliable, even for the Parisian police, you can't fight much.
By the way, quite reliable AKM and AK-74, which Riga prefers to sell to Ukraine and the Middle East, are still in Latvian warehouses. The fact that this weapon uses a cartridge that is not standardized for NATO is not an obstacle - NATO's Poland, Romania and Hungary still use weapons of Soviet calibers. And in Bulgaria, AK is produced under the cartridge 5, 56x45 NATO and costs several times cheaper than the G36.
One can, of course, assume that simple-minded Latvians fell under the spell of the “Hollywood image” of the G36. However, before the conclusion of such contracts, serious and tough tests are usually carried out. And on the Web, it is not difficult to collect sufficient information about this rifle.
However, marketers at Heckler & Koch are renowned for their ability to engage and persuade customers not only through aggressive advertising. Actually, it is addressed not so much to the direct buyer as to the public. After all, if you convince taxpayers that they have a “weapon of the future” in front of them, there is much less chance that deputies and journalists will start asking: “Why did you buy this rubbish at all? Maybe they got a kickback?"
However, this is exactly what the Latvian journalists assume. The republic's media recall how Minister Bergmanis was asked for what purpose his department bought old Stinger MANPADS, powerless against the Russian aviation, with which Latvia is going to fight. Then he replied: “I am not an expert. But they are not only against airplanes. There are still helicopters. And they are needed to protect their squad, they are close-range weapons. I think they are very effective, there is no doubt about that. They would not be produced if they were not effective."
Most likely, a non-expert minister will explain the purchase of G36 in the same way. Moreover, he was already caught buying optical sights at an overpriced price. Although Bergmanis is not an expert, he understands perfectly well that if Latvia decides to fight with Russia, it will be absolutely indifferent what the Homesard's fighters are armed with - G36, AKM, M-16 or muskets of the times of John IV. And if there is no difference, then why not make it so that someone would feel good. For example, Heckler & Koch, the Bundeswehr armament service and the Latvian Minister of Defense?
What is great for a German?
The question is inevitable: what do they want to rearm the Bundeswehr with? The Heckler & Koch 433 is a modular compact assault rifle in caliber 5, 56x45 mm. The new machine, according to the manufacturer, combines the best aspects of the G36 and HK416 rifles and is positioned as a replacement for the G36.
The HK433 is available in six different barrel lengths. The developers indicate that the new rifle is compatible with accessories and some elements of the G36, HK416 and AR-15 assault rifles (on the basis of which the army M16 and M4 were created). At the same time, shooters who previously used all of the above models will be able to fully work with the HK433, since their key elements (magazine ejection button, fuse and fire translator) are located in the same places.
The mass of the HK433 ranges from 3, 2 to 3, 6 kilograms and depends on the length of the barrel. The assault rifle is equipped with regular 30-round magazines of NATO STANAG 4179 standard. The maximum rate of fire is about 700 rounds per minute. The HK433 is compatible with grenade launchers including the HK269 and GLM / GLMA1.
