We have been reporting on Germany’s break-up with the G36 rifle, and the initial indications were that the HK417 would be the go-to replacement gun. Apparently, much like the G36, that isn’t 100% accurate. The HK 417 is only a stopgap measure while a wider search for a permanent replacement weapon is found. There’s no word yet about which manufacturers will be in the running for the new guns, but as dw.com details it looks like the goal is to have something selected and distributed in three or four years . . .
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday confirmed that the G36, the German army’s main rifle of the past 20 years, will be phased out and replaced by a “new generation” weapon from 2019.
“We have decided in consensus with military command to make a clear cut,” she said in Berlin, adding that tenders for a modern replacement for the Bundeswehr’s 167,000 G36s would be called Europe-wide.
At the same time as Germany moves forward with the replacement of their G36 rifles, manufacturer Heckler & Koch are doing their best Sergeant Schultz impersonation and suing the German government over their results. I’m not entirely sure what they hope to accomplish, since that’s like shouting at your newly ex girlfriend and demanding that she go out with you one more time.
The heart wants what the heart wants, and Germany’s gaze has obviously drifting away from H&K.