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The German Army To Use The HK417 As Temporary G36 Replacement

Gungho Cowboy

With the accuracy problems hounding the mainstay Bundeswehr assault rifle, the G36, the German army now are pondering on whether to replace this rifle with a new one. But for the meantime, reports from German media indicate that another rifle from the same supplier of the G36 which is Heckler & Koch, will be used for the interim period, the 7.62mm HK417 Rifle.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German Defence Ministry have decided to procure 600 G27P (HK417 rifles) and 600 MG4 Light Machine Gun in a deal that is worth €18 million. 60 units will be expected to be delivered by the end of November of this year and they expect full delivery of these weapons by the middle of 2016.

The G27P/HK417 is already in use in German special forces units.

In previous reports early this year, the Defence Ministry confirmed the problems they discovered in the G36. According to the tests they conducted it is the whole system that has problems, which is not only about the composite material that holds the barrel in place that loosens up as the temperature rises when the rifle is fired in long rapid bursts. The tests show that the rifle's accuracy fell 30% when temperature increased 30 degrees Celcius and there are accuracy differences by 35% between different munitions even if the best cartridges are used. Heckler & Koch strongly denies that there are problems with their CEO wondering why that with almost 20 years of service of the G36 in the German Army, the problems were discovered only recently.

This is a bit of a surprise as we are expecting another Heckler & Koch Rifle that, the more famous 5.56mm x 45mm NATO HK416 rifle since the G36 uses the same type of ammo. The Germans opted for a heavier ammo this time, which was previously used in their G3 battle rifle. We don't know if the Germans are looking outside of Germany for a replacement of the G36, but most probably they will still go for something from Heckler & Koch.

The decision on the future of the G36 is expected in about a month's time as the commission tasked to investigate the accuracy of the G36 will release the results of the tests.

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