As of: January 26, 2024, 2:36 p.m
By: Michael Kister
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According to media reports, the Federal Audit Office criticizes the fact that the standards for precision testing of the new Bundeswehr G95 assault rifle have been relaxed.
Berlin - The Bundeswehr is threatened with failure: the old G36 assault rifle did not fire as accurately as it should in the past.
That's why a new one was needed.
But the successor rifle G95 is now also causing problems.
The Bundeswehr's procurement office is said to have allowed the manufacturer Heckler and Koch to make the weapon's precision tests less strict.
When the troops tested the G95 themselves, it was not as precise as necessary in combat.
This emerges from a report from the Federal Audit Office to the Bundestag, which
Spiegel
and
Bild
reported on.
This is bad news for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
Four days before the testing standards were lowered, he took over the office from Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
He was probably not involved in the specific decision.
However, he had repeatedly emphasized that speed was a priority when procuring equipment.
In the case of assault rifles, this requirement may have driven the procurement office to proceed less carefully, the auditors believe.
According to their report, the precision requirements have been reduced in order to be able to put the G95 into service as quickly as possible, reports Der
Spiegel
.
Heckler & Koch sells the HK416 assault rifles, shown here in a production hall in Oberndorf, as the G95 to the Bundeswehr.
© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa
G95 assault rifle not precise enough for the troops?
According to Spiegel,
the relaxations
affected the ammunition on the one hand: instead of combat ammunition, civilian precision ammunition was used - without simulating extreme temperatures, as was actually intended.
On the other hand, Heckler and Koch have extended the time intervals between test bursts of fire.
Bild
adds that a sniper rifle scope and, instead of the NATO shooting ram, a precision rifle from the manufacturer were used to mount the rifle
.
As a result, according to the procurement office's report, Spiegel continued, "it is no longer guaranteed that the troops' precision requirements are met" because "the weapons manufacturer's obligations to provide evidence have been simplified to the detriment of the Bundeswehr."
Despite concerns at the technical level, the relaxed test standards were approved by the President of the Procurement Office, Gabriele Korb, on January 23, 2023.
A little later she was replaced by her previous deputy Annette Lehnigk-Emden by the new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
The old story: Problems with precision with the G36 and G95 assault rifles
The G95 is based on the AR-15 rifle platform, which is also the standard weapon of the US Army.
Its manufacturer Heckler und Koch already produced the Bundeswehr's first two assault rifles under the names G3 and G36.
Given the current reports, it is tempting to think of the debate surrounding the precision of the G36.
It ultimately led to then Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announcing that she was looking for a new rifle for the Bundeswehr.
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However, the result of this search, the G95, does not necessarily have to be defective.
The soldiers were already satisfied with the G36 in action, despite the precision deficiencies discovered under laboratory conditions.
The same could apply to the new assault rifle: The army told
Spiegel
that the weapon has already been in use for several years in the Special Forces Command, the Rapid Forces Division and in the French Army and that there are no complaints about its precision anywhere .