Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
On the other hand, the G11 may have eliminated the need for 9mmP submachineguns in general service and eventually "companion" weapons in the same calibre would have been developed (pistols, carbine/smgs, light machineguns, etc).
If reunification had not occurred, the G11 was sure to have been taken into service in my opinion - the requirements for such a weapon had been laid down 20 years earlier and the G11 filled all of them admirably. At the time, the G3 was the standard service rifle, the G41, G36, etc all still to come.
Therefore, the Germans would only have had 4.7mm and 7.62N to worry about, at least initially. The G41 would have been placed on the back burner while the G11 was issued to the front line units. Once that was mostly complete, then the G3 would have been removed (the whole process taking a couple of years in all likelihood). There would have been little need to supply front line units with 7.62 (belted, certainly, but loose rounds would only be needed for speciality weapons such as sniper rifles), and certainly no need for 5.56 at all...
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If the G11 was taken into service, then the G41 would have been too.
The G41 was developed from the HK33 with such differences as making use of the NATO STANAG magazine instead of the HK mag, a bolt hold open device and an M16 style dust cover for the ejection port. As such, it's basically just an upgraded HK33.
It was developed alongside the G11 as a companion piece because the G11 was never intended to be issued in such numbers that every West German soldier would have one. It was strictly for the combat arms while the G41 was to be issued to the support services (as well as those navy and air force units that needed a rifle). You're right that it would not have been a frontline weapon but it was definitely going to be issued to the West German forces.
The G41 was still on offer to the Bundeswehr until 1989 when it was rejected in favour of a more modern design (probably also had something to do with the fact that it was generally heavier than other 5.56mm rifles). That rejection lead to the development of the G36 now in service.