Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen officially announced on September 8, 2015 that the assault rifle service from Heckler & Koch is drawing to a close. So the million dollar question arose. Which model will replace the decommissioned G36 in 2019?
Stefan Perey
End of service: The era in which the Heckler & Koch G36 5.56x45mm NATO assault rifle was in service with the German armed forces seems to have finally achieved its goal.
The G36 rifle in 5.56x45mm NATO from the world famous manufacturer Heckler & Koch from Oberndorf am Neckar in the Swabian region of Germany entered service in 1997 based on official specifications. It was designed for a 20-year lifespan, which at least the early rifles of the very first batches in 2017 survived.
Now, unfortunately, the decision of the Minister of Defense means that in the future there will not even be a modified or improved version of the HK G36 in service with the German armed forces.
Long-term partners: German Armed Forces and Heckler & Koch
Heckler & Koch has been a respected supplier to the German Armed Forces since the birth of the Federal Republic of Germany. Let's not forget that the Heckler & Koch G3 rifles in 7.62x51mm NATO caliber are automatic weapons with a semi-breechblock that were adopted by the Bundeswehr back in 1959.
The collapse of the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s hit Germany's arms industry hard. The futuristic Heckler & Koch G11 rifle, chambered for 4.73x33mm caseless cartridges, was originally intended to replace the 7.62x51mm NATO G3, but due to reduced defense costs and problems with the weapon itself, it ended up still languishing in military collections. artifacts for study by interested historians.
First prototype HK 50, predecessor to Heckler & Koch G36
Heckler & Koch HK50 alias G36 since early 90s
Sectional view of the HK G36
In 1992, Germany decided to introduce a new assault rifle designed to fire 5.56x45mm cartridges, which have been adopted as the NATO standard since 1986.
The trend towards small, low-pulse calibers was clearly due to the fact that NATO partners in Europe such as the UK with its Enfield SA 80, France with FAMAS or Belgium with FNC, and the United States with the M-16, have already followed suit.
The budgetary constraints were dictated by one of the technical specifications: to identify a suitable design that had already been developed.
Two rifles, the Austrian Steyr AUG and the German Heckler & Koch HK50, made the final list and were sent to 91 Bundeswehr technical centers in Meppen for comprehensive testing.
Earlier, the radical redistribution of the world power, which sounded the death knell for the major project G11, drove HK almost to the wall and the company was eventually taken over by the British corporation Royal Ordnance.
Thus, the HK 50 project gave HK a chance to get back on its feet. The company ditched the idea of a roller-braked bolt-action rifle with a stamped steel body and turned instead to a gas-operated weapon with a short-stroke gas piston and a rotary bolt in a reinforced polymer body.
The dawn of the new 5.56x45 service rifle came on May 8, 1995, when the head-general of the German Armaments Directorate authorized the adoption of an assault rifle, thus blessing the HK50 under the new official designation G36. The highly symbolic handover took place on December 3, 1997, when Rüdiger Petereit, Director of the Federal Bureau of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB), presented the G36 to Major General Reiner Fell, Chief of Army Logistics Command, describing the event as the beginning of a "special period in the history of weapons".
Development of relations: what kind of weapons were ordered by the German armed forces?
Current design: G36 KA4 with illuminated EOTech telescopic sight, 3x magnification, laser light module and AG 36 40x36mm underbarrel grenade launcher
Despite the media hype and discussion of the G36 Heckler & Koch, it should always be borne in mind that this assault rifle was introduced at a time when "9/11", the global war on terrorism, and German soldiers were fighting overseas in the desert. in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was quite unthinkable that the rifle would continue to provide superior value for money.
Heckler & Koch supplied what the specifications demanded in a relatively peaceful period. In addition, 55 countries currently use the Heckler & Koch assault rifle, including 35 NATO countries belonging to NATO or the North Atlantic Alliance. There doesn't seem to be any customer complaints in such a long time, which means the whole "assault rifle scandal" is nothing more than a purely German issue.
But, undeniably, negative media reports have become more frequent since 2012, arguing that the once warmed up G36 tends to shoot inaccurately and that an effective fight against enemy forces is more or less impossible. These claims led to discussions and disputes between the German Ministry of Defense (in this case the Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement) and the Black Forest manufacturer. The assertion that in the extreme conditions of foreign operations an assault rifle can become so inaccurate that it loses proof of its accuracy has dealt a severe blow to the image of a renowned manufacturer, hurting its engineering prowess.
The temporary solution is now the immediate provision of 600 G27P assault rifles in 7.62x51mm NATO, based on the design of the HK 417
The HK 416 A5 in 5.56x45mm will undoubtedly be one of the many alternatives to the G36
To summarize briefly, in March 2012, the German armed forces introduced the "Mission Approximate Deployment Zone" (EBZ) firing cycle as a standard operating procedure that describes the entire daily firing cycle of 150 rounds in 20 minutes.
The manufacturer took this EBZ to test at home with 10 different G36 models built between 1996 and 2008, resulting in the publication of a 134-page report "G36 Assault Rifle - An Analysis of the Dispersion and Accuracy Behavior of a Weapon When It Overheats After Long Shooting." …
Naturally, as with any weapon, the laws of physics mean that an overheated weapon will produce a greater dispersion rate, and the G36 is no different.
But it is equally true that - unlike biased media - this degree of increased dispersion and loss of accuracy is generally the exception rather than the rule, although the ammunition used is of course an additional factor (MEN DM 11 have also been criticized).
And so the inevitable happened: The Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement applied for warranty service based on significant overheating deficiencies and service rifle issues. This led to further testing by independent institutes and in April 2015, Ursula von der Leyen expressed her opinion for the first time that the G36 would need to be replaced immediately.
Was the scandal related to the assault with a rifle a German affair?
In this regard, it is interesting to note that in the introductory paragraph to the very last, concluding part of the report, the Federal Bureau of the Bundeswehr for Equipment, Information Technology and Service Support (BAAINBw) partially rehabilitates the G36. Unfortunately, we are still unable to view the full report, although it was only a foreword by Major General Erich Könen, chief of the ground combat department at BAAINBw, that sparked a political storm.
No one would have guessed that for the first phase of World War II, German soldiers would be called upon to use the HK G 36 when the weapon was introduced in 1997.
Rumors circulated on May 13, 2015, suggested that opposition politicians accused the Ministry of Defense of editing the final report before submitting it to the German parliament, burying the foreword.
Green Party defense expert Tobias Lindner called on Ursula von der Leyen to immediately submit a foreword to the Defense Committee.
"The minister should explain why she provided parliament with incomplete information." The powers that be have been forced to publish the controversial preface online, available to anyone interested in reading it. And, in fact, the foreword contains a passage that appears to call into question the decision to withdraw G36. Here is a quote from the section in question:
“It is important to make it clear that in order to understand the report, its purpose is not to assess the other functional properties of the G36 assault rifle in terms of weight, reliability and functionality.
Combat situation "ambush" was chosen as, taking a cross-section of its basic tactical principles, it seems best suited for "demanding combat situation" to analyze the consequences we asked to investigate.
These situations are encountered and performed with all degrees of intensity and competence. Ambushes constitute combat situations in which combat troops and auxiliary forces can be drawn in at any time. In these cases, the soldiers find themselves forced to cope with the high intensity of the battle.
The armed forces will be called in during the review process to assess the likelihood of their occurrence. The result of this study will provide the military with an understanding of how the G36 works in an extremely demanding technical area, thus enabling them to draw conclusions for the preparation and execution of a mission as part of their operational and support responsibilities. The G36 Selection Committee believes the G36 remains a reliable and functional weapon. The report does not contain any indication that the G36 rifle poses a risk to shooters, and there is no such risk at any point during the deployment of the weapon."
Third-party bullpup design: Croatian VHS-2 from HS Products
ST Kinetics BMCR from Singapore will not be included in the selection procedure for new weapons for the German Army
Interesting workaround - also from Heckler & Koch
Now, 600 G27P assault rifles, based on the 7.62x51mm HK 417 and 600 MG4 5.56x45mm light machine guns from Heckler & Koch, will be purchased to cover urgent needs.
This has infuriated opposition parties such as the Union 90 / Green and Left Party, which claim nepotism and "the conversion of poachers into gamekeepers." This is all the more surprising since the procurement, which will begin this November and complete by the end of 2016, is certainly a smart move given the current structure and logistics within the German Armed Forces.
Ultimately, soldiers serving in the field in crisis regions will be able to use both of these weapons immediately, without the time consuming test series or other issues related to their mission deployment.
Promising candidates to replace HK G36
In the group of compact bullpup assault rifles, the 5.56x45 Steyr AUG A3 is likely to be the go-to for the German Armed Forces.
Ursula von der Leyen bitterly stressed that the new assault rifle - slated to enter service in 2019 - will be selected through an open, transparent tender.
It is worth noting here that Turkey became the first NATO member state to reintroduce the MPT76 7.62x51mm NATO rifle, replacing the seemingly more modern 5.56mm weapons.
Indeed, the new Turkish assault rifle bears a striking resemblance to the HK 417 of the same caliber.
If we assume that the German military is unlikely to initiate a general switch from 5.56x45 back to 7.62x51mm NATO, the question remains which new 5.56mm assault rifles will be procured as a replacement for the approximately 167,000 HK G36 units used by the Bundeswehr. currently? This is one of those questions, like the one that suggests whether they can find a worthy alternative to the assault rifles in service with NATO partners.
The Beretta ARX-160 is one of the modern representatives of the traditional 5.56 assault rifle, in which the magazine is located in front of the trigger.
France is also looking to replace its veteran 5.56mm FAMAS bullpup rifle, and it has indeed initiated a tender for the purchase of assault rifles.
The UK's Enfield SA80, also in bullpup design, was commissioned to carry out upgrades and modifications at the Heckler & Koch plant.
Like their somewhat shaky United States counterparts, the M16A4 / M4A1, both of these European weapons systems have demonstrated their weaknesses and are likely one place below the HK G36 in terms of handling and functional reliability. Thus, they are unlikely to become a viable alternative.
FN Herstal's FN SCAR family of Belgian weapons consists of modern assault rifles with a modular design
If the plans include selecting a candidate from the world of compact assault rifles in bullpup design, then a more attractive argument would be in favor of the Austrian Steyr AUG A3 assault rifle, which will soon celebrate its 40th anniversary of intense military service and has already entered, for another reason. to the shortlist of the German armed forces, or in favor of the later Israeli IWI Tavor TAR21 assault rifle.
But there are plenty of fish in the sea, so even traditionally built modern assault rifles with magazines located at the front of the trigger can be interesting options.
They will include the following brands (in alphabetical order, without claims for completeness): Beretta ARX-160, Remington Defense / Bushmaster ACR, Caracal 816S (Haenel CR223 self-loading civilian weapon options better known in Germany), CZ 805 BREN A1, FN SCAR, SIG MCX or Steyr STM 556.
It goes without saying that this group should not lose sight of the HK416 A5 (alias G38), which US and German elite units are already using successfully and which is currently one of the hottest contenders for the M4 replacement in the US military.
Remington Defense Adaptive Combat Rifle (ACR) Modular Design
CZ 805 BREN A1 in 5.56x45mm NATO from the Czech Republic
There are still no clear guidelines on how to choose a successor to the HK G36, but we hope that this article and the background knowledge it contains has brought our readers up to date and praised, citing press and political debate, how this issue is developing.
We also introduced the innovative SIG MCX multi-caliber assault rifle through its pace
Also alternative to HK G36: SIG Sauer MCX
We'll keep you updated on this story as we watch it unfold.
