Yesterday, industry news portals have posted news about the settlement of the dispute over the choice of the successor of the G36 carbine for the German army. For those of you who do not follow this convoluted story, let us remind you that the first winner of the tender for the new weapon that is to be called the G95 was the Haenel company with its short-stroke piston operated MK 556 model - an AR15 style carbine.

The tender was settled in September 2020, after which Haenel's largest competitor, HK, almost immediately appealed the decision. The main reason for the appeal was a patent infringement, which the Oberndorf company wanted to prove by submitting a document several hundred pages long.

In yesterday's press release of the Federal Ministry of Defense, we can read that after analyzing the documentation, C.G. The Haenel GmbH Company has been excluded from the tender for a new automatic rifle for the Bundeswehr, and that the contract will be awarded to HK and its A8 standard product, the HK416 carbine.

It is worth mentioning that Heckler und Koch put up two products for the tender. In addition to the well-known HK416, it has also entered the new HK433 model that combines solutions from the G36 and the HK416.

The basis for excluding the Haenel GmbH company from the proceedings is the aforementioned allegation of infringement of HK's patent rights. The German Ministry of Defence has mentioned that the Haenel company was informed about the decision and had the opportunity to comment on it.

Sources: joint-forces.com, soldat-und-technik.de