German Soldiers Don’t Trust Their Battle Rifle

G36 has a reputation for unreliability

by TILL RIMMELE

Everyone has heard of the formidable German assault rifle, the G36—the successor to the reliable G3. Both are Heckler & Koch products.

You can find the G3 all around the world, as the rifle is in the top five for small arms sales.

The G36 is different. It’s actually quite rare outside of Europe. And for good reason. It’s got a bad reputation.

The G36 originated in the early ’90s. It’s renowned as a light and versatile advanced combat rifle. Many European armies and security forces adopted it. Two nations bought a production license—Spain and, interestingly enough, Saudi Arabia.

Germany has also begun sending G36s to Kurdish Peshmerga forces to help them battle Islamic State in Iraq.

There are some minor differences between versions for export and those for domestic use. The main difference between the two versions is the sights added to the integrated scope. The domestic version has an inbuilt reflex sight. The export version has iron sights.

In theory, you could break off the reflex sight to restore the iron sights. However, in practice this doesn’t work. German soldiers have tried it.

Ever since its introduction as the standard German assault rifle in December 1997, German soldiers have struggled with the G36. After all, it had to fill in for the G3, which had served well for nearly 40 years.

The introduction occurred in a time of foreign policy changes. For the first time in its contemporary history, Germany took part in international operations on the Balkan. All in all, exciting times for the Bundeswehr.

But then in 2001 the United States invaded Afghanistan and Germany joined the NATO occupying force. Meanwhile, there were rumors about inaccuracy resulting from suspected frailty in the G36’s construction.