There is so much going on in Germany and their attempts to renew the small arms for their Army at the moment. If you think it’s confusing, you have our sympathies and full understanding. First, it was announced that the Haenel MK556 had won the tender to replace the G36, and within less than a month, the €250 Million order was withdrawn. Until we know what happens next we can only guess, but it seems that the Heckler & Koch G36 is going to be around for a while longer.

The G26 Short Range Sniper Rifle Project

Earlier this year it was announced that the German Army was looking for a 7.62×51 Short Range Sniper Rifle, to be called G26. To make the words “short range” compatible with “sniper rifle”, think of the G26 as a DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) and it makes more sense. There was also a tender for the next G26 German Sniper Riflescope, with a TReMoR 3 reticle.

Picture by Concamo.

According to the publication Soldat & Technik, The Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has now canceled the tender for the G26 project, for reasons unknown.

A total of five suppliers of firearms are said to have submitted weapons to the trials. None of the five suppliers have successfully passed the apparently very demanding tests. ITAR is normally an issue in the German tenders, but rumor has it that two of the suppliers were from the USA.

It would be very interesting to know what kind of tests each individual rifle failed. Is it down to accuracy or other factors?

Picture by Concamo.

This is the second interruption for the G26 project. A total of 145 semi-automatic sniper rifles, painted in “sniper gray” were planned, so the order isn’t huge by any means.

The specification of the Short Range Sniper Weapon from TED was as follows:

Summary of the design features (auto-translated, with some edits):

1. Caliber 7.62 mm x 51 NATO
2. Semi-automatic gas pressure
3. Operability on both sides (Ambidextrous)
4. Muzzle brake
5. Signature damper set (Suppressor), consisting of compact signature damper, subsonic signature damper, training signature damper,
6. STANAG 4694 rails on hand protection and weapon top,
7. Length without muzzle brake and with inserted shoulder rest maximum 900 mm,
8. Use in areas with climate categories A 1-3, B 1-3, C 1-2 * and M 1-3 in accordance with STANAG 4370 without restriction of functionality; * With limited battery life,
9. Receiver/Housing life at least 6000 rounds; Barrel life at least 6000 rounds,
10. Maximum 4.5 kg total weight weapon without muzzle brake, sighting device and accessories, with mounting rails and empty magazine (10 rounds),
11. Accessories: 10-shot magazines, 20-shot magazines, cleaning device, sleeve bag, loading gauges, sectional model, special tool sets, torque sets.
12. Other important features: color gray (sniper gray), adjustable gas take-off,
13. First ammunition packages for integrated verification and series.

To carry out a comparison test, 5 EA gun samples with accessories and 20,000 EA rounds of precision ammunition must be supplied.

Picture by Concamo.

Included in the request was a total quantity of 507,000 rounds of “precision ammunition” of which 267,000 were going to be used for verification and 240,000 for serial use.

In similar news, the Danish Armed Forces just chose a new Sniper Rifle – the Colt Canada C20 DMR and the French Army selected the SCAR-H PR.

Source: Soldat & Technik, Spartanat and BAAINBw. All pictures by Concamo.