The German Army Is Getting a New Machine Gun

Last year, the German armed forces announced they would purchase Heckler and Koch’s MG-5 machine gun to finally replace a World War II-era weapon. The new machine gun should put the Bundeswehr’s existing weapons to shame—and make up for past failures.

“Its main feature is that it is much more accurate than its predecessor,” German army colonel Christian Brandes told U.S. Army reporters at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona during testing of the new gun on Oct. 14.

The predecessor Brandes was referring to is the MG-3. That aging weapon is essentially just an upgrade of a machine gun Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht started using in 1942. The MG-5 will replace the MG-3 as well as some of the German army’s less aged, but somewhat inadequate, MG-4s.

I really appreciate guns that demonstrate technological development.

Some changes are so simple, yet someone had to think of it. Sometimes it was a matter of pressing what was possible with metalurgy and tooling. Other times it was just thinking differently. I never gave any thought to charging handles being on the right side of every semi-auto I’d ever held, until I picked up a rifle with the charging handle on the left. Then I was stunned at how much easier it made mag changes, while keeping the rifle in a ready state. I also like to mull how old thinking often restricted development.

Very cool that the Smithsonian allowed you to have access. Did they ask to see your replica in action? If not I think you should make a video to put with their rifle.

I always tried to incorporate experience-proven features in the experimental stuff we made for the Marine Corps but the stumbling block was the army - or more accurately, the civilian heads of departments within the army research, engineering and development command. Anything we put in front of them - and today, everything has to be "joint" - wasn't even considered. They were determined to keep the miserable M-16 family in place and that miserable 5.56X45 caliber no matter what your test results showed.

The huge flaws were that natural inertia all departments have to keep everything the same because that's what they decided a long time ago and because none of the leadership had been in uniform and none of them at all conversant in firearms history.

What we need in this country of superior firearms knowledge is a team of top-notch firearms guys, ballisticians and engineers to develop the next-generation weapons.

What we have instead are the (fill in the blank) folks of the Joint Service Small Arms Program coming up with that ridiculous pig of all pigs, the XM-25. A $25,000 ranging sight, which requires the shooter to expose his/her head and shoulders out of cover for the several seconds needed to get a laser range solution, a shot that kicks like a moose in heat, and if the shooter is very lucky, the round detonates somewhere near his intended target, spraying the enemy with itsy-bitsy grain of sand-size fragments - all for $25-$50 per shot.

We really need guys like you and I running the development program.

I have a very good "in" at the Smithsonian and I only live 20 miles away. If you get into the Washington DC area, ping me and I'll get you a visit to their Back Room with Abraham Lincoln's Henry Rifle, George Washington's sword, and John Dillinger's .45 Colt. Heck, if you give me enough warning, we'll go shoot the Ferguson.

From what I have seen, the PKM is an excellent machine gun - Reliable like all of the Kalashnikov family and quite light (16.4 lbs) and a lot lighter than the M240.

I had not heard of the Polish version in 7.62mm NATO, I am embarrassed to say (so much for being an "expert") but I would think that it could be an important contender if it is as accurate and controllable as he M240.

I don't believe that the RTD&E folks in the army would even entertain the idea, but I think acquiring some of the Polish guns for comparison testing would be a valuable experiment.

I always had an open mind for examining other countries' weapons against ours: I once acquired a Soviet D-30 howitzer for evaluation for conversion to 5 inch/38 Navy (127mm)ammo instead of the LW 155 for a direct support howitzer for the Marine Corps. Even got to the point of training a Marine crew and getting the weapon and ammo safety approved before I was shut down firmly by higher headquarters..

Yeah, I’ve always been amazed that politicians and brass politicize the issue of defense procurement by demanding favor towards American gear. If I recall correctly, the MAGs and SAWs used by the DoD are built in the US, just as a loop-hole around the protectionist nonsense!

Cant find much on the UKMs, but this looks nice!
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/09/03/polish-modernised-ukm-2013-machine-gun/

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