The speed at which the three rounds exited made it seem to the operator that only one cartridge was actually fired. The result was an automatic rifle design with unheard of accuracy, achieving a high probability, first-round capability through the firing of more than one round at a time. Though in trials with NATO by 1978, the system was withdrawn when issues involving ammunition "cook off" plagued the weapon. Considering the amount of heat generated by the constant action of the three-round firing process and its caseless ammunition, it proved no surprise that a rewrite of the ammunition casing was in order.
The G11 was taken back to the drawing board and refitted with a newly designed cartridge helped along by Dynamit Nobel that used a new propellant. This work raised cook-off tolerances and ultimately relieved the system of the issue altogether.
The initial production model - the G11 K1 - was available in March of 1987 to which active evaluations followed into 1989 with promising results. The G11 K2 followed and some of these examples made their way for testing to the United States military (Aberdeen Proving Grounds) through the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) program. These models differed slightly externally with a revised fore-end design but were largely indistinguishable from the K1 to the casual observer.
While the weapon missed on its chance to impress NATO (the unique ammunition meant that logistics were not in the weapon's favor), it became the brief the focus of the West German Army. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union freed many of its satellite states and supported nations to for self-rule, including East Germany. The Germanys then worked on a reunification program that included assimilation of Eastern forces. As such, funding initially scheduled for the serial production of the G11 was now rerouted to this process leading to full-scale production of the G11 being cancelled.
The HK G11 was to become the frontline service assault rifle for the German Army while the more conventional, newly-developed HK G41 (detailed elsewhere on this site) was to go to second-line units. Official West German Army certification came in 1990 though a defense review of 1992 killed any further procurement on the product. With the G11 product falling through (about 1,000 had made their way into circulation), the G41 followed suit and the newly-formed Germany Army had moved on to another Heckler & Koch product - the HK G36.
Nevertheless, the G11 remained a sound idea in every respect and a system that was near-ready for mass production and wide-scale service - though the European climate forced the potential of the weapon to the imagination. Given Heckler & Koch's proven track record regarding small arms and automatic weapons, the G11 would seemingly have performed admirably considering the thought given to every step of its design - the product remains a very interesting weapon filled with very good concepts. While the G11 will never see the light of day in our lifetimes, there is some thinking that its core design may very well reappear in another HK design down the line.
Beyond the standard G11 assault rifle was to be the G11 PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) - attempting to fulfill another NATO requirement of the time. This model was a handgun form of the G11 in the traditional sense save for the specialized ammunition found in the G11. Additionally, it was chambered for the 4.73x25mm cartridge. Still another planned variant was the LMG 11 intended for the light machine gun role. This retained the bulky body of the G11 though with a new frame design and lengthened, shrouded barrel system at front. The optics/carrying handle was still featured over the frame.
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