Military small arms acquisition programs are always funny. More so if there is a “package” of accessories and goodies that go with it.
The most persistent problem lately seems to have been jumping the gun on over-ambitious optics systems on combat rifles and carbines.
We’ve already talked about the “M7 Surrogate Fire Control Program” on the Army’s 250,000 Next Generation Squad Weapons in rifle (M7), carbine (XM8), and LMG (M250) variants, which have eschewed the apparently not-ready-for-primetime Vortex M1157 Fire Control System for commercial off-the-shelf optics and lasers from EoTech and B.E. Meyers.
Similarly, in Germany, the new HK G95 program— the Bundeswehr’s dirty mustard-toned (“ekelhaftgelb“) HK416A8 rifle– is supposed to use the Leonardo-supplied Elcan Specter DR 1-4x as the companion day optic of record.
This bad boy, seen in two different colorways and with and without caps:
However, very specific changes and tweaks to the version of the Specter wanted by the Bundeswehr mean that just about every one I have seen has been wearing a very chunky Hensoldt RSA-S reflex sight atop a ZO 4x30i fixed-power optic with an IR pointer module.
Thus:
And as seen with these troops of Panzerpionierbataillon 701 in a video posted last week:
If it seems kind of a throwback, that optics combo was adopted a decade ago for the circa 2016 IdZ-ES (Infanterist der Zukunft – Erweitertes System) future soldier program for use with the G36, the rifle the G95 is replacing.
Cue the rimshot. Everyone laughs.
Meanwhile, the EOTech OGL-C is now civilian-legal and non-restricted.
The German Bundeswehr recently issued the first of at least 122,000 dirty mustard-toned HK416A8 rifles to army infantrymen– and more guns are on the way.
Heckler & Koch has had a lock on German infantry rifles going back to the 7.62 NATO Gewehr 3 (G3), which was adopted in 1959 and is still in limited service. The newly adopted System Sturmgewehr G95A1 in 5.56 NATO is replacing the futuristic-looking G36 in the same caliber, which in turn has been supplementing the G3 since 1996.
HK416A8, Germany’s new standard issue rifle, type classified as the G95. (Photo: Bundeswehr)
The first of the new rifles was issued at Grafe to troops of Panzergrenadier Battalion 122 (PzGrenBtl 122), a “tip of the spear” unit garrisoned in Oberviechtach, Bavaria, on the Czech border (cue the comic rimshot).
In Grafenwöhr, the Deputy Inspector of the Army, Lieutenant General Heico Hübner (left), together with Vice Admiral Carsten Stawitzki from the Ministry of Defense, presented the first new G95 rifles to the troops. (Photo: Bundeswehr)
It appears that all of the issued rifles recently shown off are the shorter G95KA1 variant, with the “K” being “kurz” or short, as it has a 14-inch barrel. (Photo: Bundeswehr) (Official caption: In Grafenwöhr wurde das neue Sturmgewehr der Bundeswehr, das G95 A1, an das Panzergrenadierbataillon 122 aus Oberviechtach feierlich übergeben am 4. Dezember 2025.)
The G95, adopted in 2021, will be fielded in both the standard 16-inch G95A1 and shorter G95KA1, both of which are lighter and shorter than the G36 they are replacing. The Elcan Specter DR 1-4x is the companion day optic of record. (Photo: Bundeswehr) (Official caption: In Grafenwöhr wurde das neue Sturmgewehr der Bundeswehr, das G95 A1 an das Panzergrenadierbatallion 122 aus Oberviechtach feierlich übergeben am 4. Dezember 2025.)
The G95, as with the HK416 in general, uses a robust, AR-18 style short-stroke gas piston system rather than the more traditional AR-15 direct gas impingement. (Photos: Bundeswehr)
It uses STANAG 4694 rails with M-LOK accessory slots and has an adjustable gas block. Note the full-length top Pic rail
Unlike the G36, the G95, in all Bundeswehr variants, will no longer be black, but greenish-brown, a colorway that has been described by some as “ekelhaftgelb” (disgusting yellow). The reason: black has a higher infrared signature and is therefore easier to detect. (Photo: Bundeswehr)
Das Senfgewehr! (Photo: Bundeswehr)
The Budget Committee of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, last week approved the purchase of more G95 series rifles, complete with optics and lights. The country, with an ever-more aggressive Russia to the East, is looking to up its military spending and is even flirting with the prospect of returning to peacetime conscription.
First selected by the Bundeswehr in 2014 in its A5 variant for use as the G28 designated marksman rifle, the country also fields the HK416A7 as the standard G95 (no A1), which has been in use with Germany’s special operations units since at least 2018.
The above shows a German KSK commando with a “50 Shades of FDE” HK416A7/G95 outfitted with an EoTech XPS HWS system and magnifier. (Photo: Bundeswehr)
The German-based Dexheimer channel earlier this year went on a visit to HK’s factory in Oberndorf to get the tour and a deep dive background on the G95. Even if you don’t speak German, you can auto-dub it in English, although you don’t really need to.
The iconic Heckler & Koch-produced 7.62 NATO caliber Gewehr 3 battle rifle officially left German military service in the 1990s, yet it continues to break cover.
The social media page for the Schleswig-Holstein State Command recently posted images of the G3 DMR, or Designated Marksman Rifle, on a military flat range in Hamburg’s Duvenstedt area. The post went on to explain that the robust G3 DMR closes the gap for medium to long distances between Sturmgewehr and Scharfschützengewehr (sniper rifle).
Looks like they are getting some work done from the 300m line. (Photos: German Army)
Oh, hallo!
The post soon garnered over 300 comments, mainly from German Boomers and Gen X members who had cut their teeth on the G3 while serving in the Bundeswehr during the country’s old conscription days of the Cold War.
West German panzergrenadier jumping off a M48 Patton during the Cold War, HK G3 in hand.
The G3, in then-West German service, replaced the briefly adopted FN FAL in 1959 and was the country’s standard infantry weapon during the Cold War. While officially replacing the HK G36 in 5.56 NATO starting in 1996, and thousands of legacy G3s were given away as military aid to Eastern European (The Baltic Republics) and overseas (Peshmerga) allies, the legendary roller-delayed blowback rifle is still apparently on hand on a just-in-case basis for “Der Tag.”
Since you’ve come this far, enjoy this circa 1970 film, which shows the G3 in production at HK, complete with a funky period soundtrack. Sure, it is in German, but it really needs no translation.
German Army’s new Basiswaffe System Sturmgewehr will be the HK416 A8. Adopted in two different lengths as the G95A1 and G95KA1, for the Bundeswehr the new guns will replace the HK-made 5.56 NATO-caliber G36, which had been adopted in 1997.
While the HK416 family may look like any old AR15, they are piston guns rather than the more traditional gas impingement system familiar to the Stoner design. Ironically, the proprietary short-stroke gas piston system is derived from the G36 family, which, in turn, owes a lot of groundwork to Stoner’s AR-18 design. The 416 has proven popular enough to be selected as the main infantry weapon for the French and Norwegian militaries as well as to be fielded by the U.S. Marines as the M27. (Photo: Bundeswehr)
HK has produced the futuristic-looking G36 in several variants, including the standard model, the shorter G36K carbine, and the G36C compact, over the past 25 years, and the type is in service with over 40 countries although its primary user has always been the German military, who has used in combat in Afghanistan and Mali.
Prior to the G36, the West German military’s standard battle rifle was the HK-made G3 in 7.62 NATO, which had won a federal government tender in the late 1950s.
West German panzer grenadier jumping off an M48 Patton during the Cold War, HK G3 in hand.
Of course, the G3 owed its lineage to the Spanish CETME 58, which was basically the final version of Ludwig Vorgrimler’s experimental StG 45(M) developed by Mauser for the Wehrmacht at the end of WWII, using the then-innovative roller-delayed blowback operating system that went on to make HK famous.
NATO’s Historian just posted this, which is awesome for fans of Cold War gear and equipment.
A documentary presented by Robert MacNeil from NATO headquarters in Brussels and showing a 1978 combined NATO exercise, “Autumn Forge”, that took place in September 1978 in the Federal Republic of Germany, testing the capacity for rapid reinforcements to NATO’s central front in Europe, the most vulnerable area the Alliance has to defend.
SACEUR, U.S. Army General Alexander M. Haig, placed great emphasis on improving the “Three Rs” – Readiness, Rationalisation, and Reinforcement – in order to counter-balance the growing military capabilities of the Warsaw Pact. One of SHAPE’s major tasks during this period was to study how to improve the command and control and flexibility of NATO forces in Europe. In 1975, Gen. Haig also introduced a major new NATO exercise program called Autumn Forge, whose best-known element was the REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany) series. These exercises brought together national and NATO exercises improved their training value and annually tested the ability of the Alliance’s North American members to reinforce Europe rapidly.
French Chasseurs Alpins. These guys had no chill when “the Boche” were poking around their mountains
Ski-mounted alpine troops have long been a facet of mountain warfare in Europe, with specialized units such as the French Chasseurs Alpins and Italian Alpini battalions dating as far back as the 19th Century. It was after just such an encounter with the French “Blue Devils” that sparked the formation of German mountain infantry in 1915, modeled after the Austrian Landwehr’s Gebirgstruppe (mountain troops) of the latter country’s Tyrolean region.
Austrian mountain troops, getting friendly with the rope game
The Germans evolved their Gebirgsjäger units over the years until no less than 16 divisions were given the title during WWII– although many were not true “mountain” troops.
Soldiers from the Prinz Eugen Division help each other in climbing a mountain rock in the Dinaric Alps, Croatia in 1943– note the Bergmann MP35 submachine gun
Today, Germany still fields a full three-battalion brigade of high-quality mountain infantry, Gebirgsjägerbrigade 23, which consists of about 5,300 soldiers trained to fight under extreme weather conditions.
And their annual winter training, to include the Polarfuchs (“Arctic Fox”) exercise– which everyone from enlisted to the commanding officer has to complete– and the smaller International Mountain Warfare Patrol, are pretty legit. Basically, take the Winter Olympics’ biathlon and add grenades, Heckler & Koch rifles, and snow camo.
U.S. Marine Sgt. Kirstin Merrimarahajara captured a Marine walking through Rukla Training Area, Lithuania during Exercise Iron Sword 16. The Marines, after all, have a history of fighting deep in the primordial forests of Europe despite their reputation as sea soldiers.
“It would seem from this fact, that man is naturally a wild animal, and that when taken from the woods, he is never happy in his natural state, ’till he returns to them again.”
Speaking of Lithuanian forest dwellers, check out the below video that NATO published this week on the life of one of the 8,000 reservists in the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces (the same size as the regular active duty Land Forces). Note both German HK G3s and G36s being used side by side.
Tiny Estonia, who share a long and increasingly tense border with Russia, uses a force of volunteer unpaid citizens– equipped with their own military arms– to hold the line.
The Estonian Defense League, a militia independent from the government, is made up of over 15,000 members, making it several times larger than the 6,500-member official Estonian Defense Forces.
Stationed in every part of the country the League is ready at a moment’s notice to sally out and repel possible invasion from unnamed neighbors. It’s the largest military force in the region and members vow to put up more of a fight than they did when the Soviet Union took over the county in 1940 and remained for decades.
Earlier this summer Vice News spent some time in-depth with not only the minutemen of the League but also those on both sides of Estonian politics and the above video shows some interesting footage of their training and doctrine.
The firepower shown is impressive, showing some sweet shots of donated German HK G3s and MG3s, old-school Chevy K5s that likely came from the U.S., a sweet 1950s-era Bofors Pvpj 1110 90 mm recoilless rifle, a smoking hot M240/FN Mag, some IMI Galils, a sprinkling of 84mm Carl Gustavs and at least one BTR-80 armored personnel carrier.
It seems Estonia is very down with the concept of civilian use of military-style arms.
Sure, Estonia has no illusions about stopping an all-out Russian incursion, but they just have to slow it down enough to allow fellow NATO members to apply action or rush reinforcements to the region and they plan to do so by putting a rifle behind every blade of grass.
“If Russia knows that attacking Estonia is not a walk in the park, maybe Russia will think twice,” says a commander.
Speaking of which, check out a recent NATO exercise with the League as part of Operation Hurricane in the video below.
With so much firepower at the hands of your everyday civilian, its hard to sell the prospect of being a member of the League because you want to hunt ducks.
But then again, back here in the states we know that Washington didn’t cross the Delaware to get to a duck blind.
