German news media have been on fire over the past couple of days over a report that is expected to be released to the public soon. It is apparent that the audit report of the G36 rifle, conducted by the Ernst Mach Institute and Bundeswehr’s Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition, is especially damning. A report summary from faz.net is replicated below, first in machine-translated English, then in native German:

After months of testing a group of experts appointed by the Ministry of Defence has the G36 assault rifle now officially certifies lack of accuracy.Both at high ambient temperatures and at a heating of the gun by duration Fires set the experts precision problems fixed. “The reason for the declining impact probability is not one of the components, such as ammunition or weapon, but the whole system,” says the report.

At the 372-page report of the Federal Court, the Ernst-Mach-Institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a Technical Center of the Army and the Bundeswehr Research Institute for Plant and supplies have contributed. Set in the following problems:

Heating with continuous fire:By design, the G36 will significantly hotter than fire at continuous comparison weapons. “This leads to a decrease in the hit probability when G36 occurs even at low numbers of shots with all the studied types of ammunition and -losen.”

Outside temperatures:When changing the outside temperatures hit probability Decrease “in partially significant”. The precision problems are most pronounced in the range 15 to 45 degrees Celsius.

Humidity:“The change between dry and humid environment leads the G36 to such restrictions as a change in the ambient temperature.” The problem, however, presented a significantly slower.

Sunlight:For side solar radiation forgave the weapon housing and shift on the meeting point of the rifle.

Ammunition:The accuracy differs between the munitions from, although in some cases by 35 percentage points. The precision problem admit it but even with the best cartridges.”

Nach monatelanger Prüfung hat eine vom Verteidigungsministerium eingesetzte Expertengruppe dem Sturmgewehr G36 nun auch offiziell mangelnde Treffsicherheit bescheinigt. Sowohl bei hohen Außentemperaturen als auch bei einer Erhitzung der Waffe durch Dauerfeuer stellten die Fachleute Präzisionsprobleme fest. „Ursächlich für die sinkende Treffwahrscheinlichkeit ist nicht eine der Komponenten, z.B. Munition oder Waffe, sondern das Gesamtsystem“, heißt es in dem Bericht.

An dem 372 Seiten starken Gutachten haben der Bundesrechnungshof, das Ernst-Mach-Institut der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, eine Wehrtechnische Dienststelle der Bundeswehr und das Wehrwissenschaftliche Institut für Werks- und Betriebsstoffe mitgearbeitet. Sie stellen darin folgende Probleme fest:

Erhitzung bei Dauerfeuer: Konstruktionsbedingt werde das G36 bei Dauerfeuer deutlich heißer als Vergleichswaffen. „Dies führt dazu, dass eine Abnahme der Treffwahrscheinlichkeit beim G36 bereits bei geringen Schusszahlen mit allen untersuchten Munitionssorten und -losen auftritt.“

Außentemperaturen: Bei einer Veränderung der Außentemperaturen verringere sich die Treffwahrscheinlichkeit „in teilweise erheblichem Umfang“. Die Präzisionsprobleme seien im Bereich 15 bis 45 Grad Celsius am stärksten ausgeprägt.

Feuchtigkeit:„Der Wechsel zwischen trockener und feuchter Umgebung führt beim G36 zu vergleichbaren Einschränkungen wie eine Änderung der Umgebungstemperatur.“ Die Probleme stellten sich allerdings deutlich langsamer ein.

Sonneneinstrahlung: Bei seitlicher Sonneneinstrahlung verziehe sich das Waffengehäuse und verlagere sich der Treffpunkt des Gewehrs.

Munition:Die Treffgenauigkeit unterscheide sich zwischen den Munitionen zwar teilweise um 35 Prozentpunkte ab. Das Präzisionsproblem gebe es aber auch mit den besten Patronen.”

Earlier this week, we covered the weaknesses of the G36 rifle that have sparked the recent controversy. However, even knowing what I had about the rifle’s construction, I did not fully realize the problems were as bad as they appear to be.

The audit reportedly concluded that G36 rifle receivers were being made in whole or in part from polyethylene plastic (a very common, very cheap plastic of the kind used to make milk jugs and bags), rather than the polyamide plastic specified:

According to the Court of Auditors’ report and the Bundeswehr Research Institute of the Bundeswehr found evidence of oddities. In the plastic mixture of the housing of the series rifles, the additive polyethylene could be detected, which could promote the deformation of the hot weapon.

The delivered by the company’s flagship model, the so-called Abnahmedemonstrator of 1993, with the German army was convinced of the practicality of the weapon, on the other hand, no polyethylene contained.

Beyond the audit report, a former Federal Office of Technology and Procurement (BWB) engineer alleges that Heckler & Koch forged Bundeswehr acceptance marks on rifles:

In December 2006, reported an engineer of the BWB-range “Quality Assurance weapons” of the BWB-tip, Heckler & Koch Concerning operative in the work – against all the rules – through a laser software with the official seal of approval, with which the company could mark his weapons themselves tested as officially , The company therefore amounts “this ‘Sovereign measure’ with its own counterfeit seals” from.The permanent presence of a BWB employee was “according to the statements” of the Institute of certification Oberndorf “because of the trusting relationship” with Heckler & Koch “unnecessary”.

Heckler and Koch has reportedly called for a new investigation to be conducted:

The manufacturer calls for a new investigation
How to deal with von der Leyen, the tips is open. The ministry intends to examine consequences. “It is surely not proper to describe this rifle in the lump unfit,” mentioned von der Leyen speaker. Below typical conditions, the G36 behaving properly within the limits of “what one particular would count on from this kind of a rifle.” The rifle was created in the 90s not automatically scenarios for how extended fighting in Afghanistan, even if such situations should not be neglected.

The Greens have referred to as rapidly conclusions from the report. “Ursula von der Leyen need to now not much better than the fantastic enlightener stage,” explained defense analyst Tobias Lindner. “You missed it to respond promptly to comprehensively cover the troubles with the gun.” A much more stringent action would sooner can lead to the examination result.

In the past twenty years, the Bundeswehr has bought virtually 180,000 G36 assault rifles in the arms producer Heckler & Koch, in accordance to Defense Department are nonetheless 166,619 used. Heckler & Koch fears the globe since of the defects to his track record. Improved heating of the rifle does not disturb its function, it mentioned in a multi-webpage opinion of the firm.

The Group’s management also calls for a new, independent investigation of the “allegations and alleged skills obtainable via the Federal” as the members of the earlier Part of the Bundeswehr stood also close.

The company certainly has an uphill battle to fight, at this point.

The Firearm Blog has obtained a G36 rifle as a byproduct of a police request, and it is our intent to test the rifle. We will release our findings as soon as possible.

Because I do not speak German, I have to rely on machine translation to understand the articles linked above. Although I make every attempt to cross-reference the translations with other articles, as well as perform corroborative searches using terms in the native language, this method cannot provide 100% accuracy. If our readers find any errors in this article, please comment to let me know, and I will fix them soon as I can.

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