Quote:
Originally Posted by Panther Al
As far as the G11 being against the Geneva Convention, I rather doubt it. In my mind, the work on the G36 (Or any of the 5.56 AR's) would have to be restarted more or less once the G11 gets flushed down the loo. While eventually they would adopt the G36, until they did the G3 would return, with perhaps another production run to make sure that there is parts and such available since I am assuming that some of the pulled G3's would have been sold on the market. Of course, all this depends on the point of view that they got a limited production run of the G11, announced that it was the new official standard, and after a short time came to the conclusion that it wasn't such a great idea after all. If they never did adopt the G11, I see the G3 staying strong right up till the war: I figure that with the storm clouds on the horizon that they would ramp back on a totally new rifle and all that goes with it in order to prevent confusion in a war should it happen.
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I personally think the G11 wouldn't have panned out terribly well, and that basically Germany would have been in a remarkable goat rodeo when the balloon went up, with:
1) G11 + Teething Problems in service with some units
2) G3 with most everyone else
3) Inherited NVA forces with AK-74s
4) Inherited NVA reserves still running AKMs
5) Some HK 33s and G41s available, but not enough
So four different calibers in service, with the likelihood of a fifth being added to the mix, and when 5.56mm is added you have two different platforms that don't use compatible magazines.
I don't think the G36 would exist in the traditional T2K timeline --> G11 never gets scrapped when the wall comes down --> HK never goes t*ts up, financially --> Royal Ordnance doesn't buy HK, and doesn't have them do the L85A2 tune up* --> HK interest in the AR-18 bolt design in lieu of roller lock never develops.
(* -- Whole other painful topic, obviously)
Though if people wanted G36s running around for cool points, I suppose they're not beyond the realm of the possible as a primary service weapon with the Bundeswehr (or one of them).