I really respect your opinion Paul but I think production of the G11 may have proceeded had reunification and the end of the Cold War not occured. I've seen several sources that explained the cancellation of the G11 program as having been prompted by an end to the need for a complex and relatively expensive new rifle (i.e. no more Red menace to the east) and to the financial burden that the former East Germany placed upon the German national budget after reunification. Had the need continued, W. Germany seemed to have been in a good enough place financially where the G11 could have been produced in numbers great enough to equip the Bundeswehr's active divisions. The G41 was intended to offset the cost of the G11 so that reserve units could get a new weapon too.
It lines up well with v1.0 canon as well.
The G11 lost out here in the U.S. due to politics. The desire for all U.S. weapon was very strong in the late '80s. At the time, IIRC (I was 14 or so) cost was cited, as was the desire to stick with the NATO standard 5.56mm ammo. The latter is somewhat ironic being as the debate still continues to this day about the best assault rifle cartridge. The 5.56mm round has loads of detractors.
Anyway, back to the T2K v1.0 timeline. Once the TDM effectively shut down the manufacture of the more complex caseless ammo, the G11 was gradually phased out of service in favor of the easier-to-feed G41 or surplus G3s. That's pretty much straight from the v1.0 Small Arms Guide.
Last edited by Raellus; 04-06-2010 at 08:39 PM.
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