Ever since the formation of a dedicated US military Space Force was announced by President Trump back in March the internet has been having its fun. Facebook, Reddit and the forums have been awash with Space Force jokes and memes. Many jokingly suggested Heckler & Koch’s legendary G11 caseless ammunition firing assault rifle would be the new force’s ideal weapon. Affectionately known by many as ‘Kraut Space Magic’ it seems an ideal choice. Our very own Nathaniel F included the G11 in his top 5 rundown of best guns for the Space Force.

The joke wasn’t lost on Heckler & Koch’s social media team who were soon posting their favourite G11 Space Force memes over on the company’s facebook page. On April 1st Heckler & Koch posted a photo of a cap with a colourful patch depicting an astronaut / space marine with a G11 and the caption “coming soonish?”. While many might have been forgiven for believing the cap to be an April Fools joke, Heckler & Koch had already been talking about the limited edition cap for a while.

In late January they posted a poll on their facebook page asking “Would you pay $69 for a 1 of 100 HK G11 ‘Space Magic’ hat?”, well the poll results said that while 43% of people would, 57% said they would not. This does not seem to have put Heckler & Koch off the idea however!

On the 9th July they teased again telling people to “Check back in next Monday for a G11 Space Soldier update”. A little late, but true to their word on July 17th they shared a video unveiling the cap and announcing a limited run of just 100 ‘G11 Space Soldier’ caps made by Findlay Hats. The video shows the cap inside a Rhino Metals gun safe, with a custom Heckler & Koch name plate.

The post included a link to Heckler & Koch’s shop where the limited edition cap was on sale for $69.99.  According to a subsequent facebook post these sold out in less than 7 hours. The caps will ship in a custom box with a patch, sticker and certificate.

Having handled a G11 I can say the vacuum of space is probably the best operational environment for it, if you want to learn more about the G11 and the other futuristic rifles tested by the US Army’s Advance Combat Rifle program during the late 80s and early 90s I wrote a in-depth article about it here.