Bundeswehr criticises ‘old-fashioned’ weaponry

In light of current operations, the German Army is continuing to develop its weaponry in order to be able to contend with this ‘very dangerous’ environment, a military official has revealed.

Speaking at the Future Mortar Systems conference in London on 27 September, Captain Maximilian Gleixner, small arms development officer for the German Army’s Infantry Future Developments Section, said that current enemies are using old-fashioned weaponry, including ‘roughly aimed rockets, artillery and mortars’, and are switching between short and long engagements.

‘Small arms fire has become a problem over the last two years,’ he continued, with the army having to challenge this threat because it has no control over the situation because of the ‘asymmetric opponent’.

‘The G36 is and will be the basic weapon of the German Army’, Gleixner said of the Heckler & Koch gas-operated assault rifle that has been operational with the Bundeswehr since 1997. Despite being a reliable, low-weight and easy to operate system, it has developed an improved G36 A2 variant, based on feedback from the user, Gleixner explained.

The optics on the G36 are ‘no longer state of the art, especially at greater distances’, and ‘there is no back up sight, for example IR’.

The scope is also too high above the bore, resulting in reduced precision, and it is ‘not so great at distances beyond 300m’, he conceded.

As a result, the latest variant which is the version used in Afghanistan by German troops, has a picatinny rail on the scope that facilitates the replacement of the optics system, and the Bundeswehr is working on a flat access rail for mounting optics.

The G36 basic weapon with enhancements such as an adjustable shoulder stock, aluminium casing, and an improved muzzle fire suppressor, is currently being tested.

The G3A3 DMR has been deployed to Afghanistan as part of a UOR, and contains a blocked burst function for a more precise shot, and functions at some 600m.