The G11 - The rifle that never was
The G11 - The rifle that never was
The G11 is one of the most unique and interesting firearms in modern history, that was evaluated by both U.S. and German military forces as a new replacement for their older weapon systems, in direct competition with the AR-15, but that ultimately never came to fruition. While certainly a very capable firearm in many respects, it's overly ambitious features that it more or less lacked the developed technology for at the time severely hampered it's capabilities and as a result, paved the way for more conventional, proven designs to take it's place. However, what it achieved by itself is still quite tremendous even by today's standards, and is what the modern U.S. military caseless programs is based on. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and the creator of the Nobel peace foundation, helped work on the caseless cartridges, providing them with a very shock insensitive binder that not only held the powder together without need for a case, but raised the auto-ignition temperature by over 200 degrees Fahrenheit and made the rounds significantly less prone to "cook-offs" or accidental ignition. This made the rounds safe enough to be used without a case, without any fear or chance of the right accidentally going off when they weren't supposed and creating a safety hzard. Like C-4 or dynamite, the explosive filler is completely harmless unless detonated with a very precise type of explosive itself, making it very safe to handle. Lighting it on fire or even shooting it with a gun won't make it go off by accident, which a regular brass case would. Only by striking the primer is the round likely to detonate, which was a primary issue and safety concern for the weapon, which was then and now proven to be remedied.
While the basic design of the caseless rounds were fairly well proven at the time, other features of the guns proved to be too much. The weapon used square shape rounds which in addition to being rather difficult to manufacture, reduced reliability somewhat and increased the complexity of the feeding mechanism. Rounded bullets by comparison are completely symmetrical and equal on all sides which makes them able to be loaded in to a gun at any angle without issue. A rotating bolt or slightly shifting bullet won't cause any malfunctions, as the bullets can be loaded in, twist, and yet still function reliably. Square shaped cartridges require an exact loading process, which necessitates greater precision and thus creates greater chances of error in the loading process, reducing the reliability somewhat. The only advantage of the square cased rounds was more propellant being able to fill a magazine, making the magazine capacity greater for it's size, but this ultimately would prove to be too small of a gain to offset the disadvantages of the increased complexity and decreased reliability. It was innovative for it's time, but ultimately didn't provide enough benefits to offset the drawbacks. Another issue was it's "hyper burst" 3-round burst firing mechanism, designed to fire 3 rounds at incredibly high RPM, around 2100 RPM. While the goal of the design more or less met the criteria set about by the U.S. military, that is the ability to fire lots of little rounds when needed, and a group of small rounds equaling one big round, it ultimately would prove to perhaps be the biggest nail in the coffin for the G11.
The "hyper-burst" essentially was designed to fire 3 rounds so fast in a row that the recoil of the round wouldn't be felt until the last round had already left the barrel. This would allow for 3 rounds to theoretically land almost on top of each other, effectively tripling the power of the round. This would allow a much smaller, lighter round to be used at long range and to hit moving targets, but at close ranges or situations that necessitated stopping power or armor penetration, the 3 round burst could allow rounds to land right on top of each other, and thus increase the power output. The round's energy was around 1400 joules with a 3.33 gram round, giving it roughly comparable ballistics to the .308 in terms of energy and mass when fired in the 3-round burst. More so, this met the military's criteria at the time, which perceived more rounds firing in a battle as key to victory. The military found that in WWII the side that fired the most rounds, irregardless of the round type, was more likely to succeed. Based around this philosophy, a gun that could fire lots of little bullets was considered better than a gun that fired one big bullet. As long as the smaller bullets had the same range and penetration as the big bullet, it could be fired separately as 1 round at a time, or in bursts to increase the damage; as it's impossible to go smaller but always possible to increase in size, the idea was that lots of little bullets could be the solution to both problems. This mechanism had it's problems however, severely increasing the wear and tear on the gun, decreasing reliability and significantly increasing the price. The higher RPM tended to wear on parts and overheat the weapon faster, which was already an issue given the firing mechanism involved. It also increased the weight of the weapon substantially, to 8-9 pounds, far heavier than the comparable AR-15 at 6.5 to 7.5 pounds, and despite being bullpup was awkward and difficult to maneuver. For a weapon that fired such a tiny, weak bullet, it was relatively large and cumbersome in comparison to the power output, giving question as to why the weapon would be used instead. Finally, the weapon could only fire at 460 rpm when not in the hyper burst mode, far below the 600-700 standard RPM for most rifles, making it perform more poorly in regular semiautomatic or fully automatic fire. Most likely, this single mechanism would be the weapon's undoing, as the increased weight, price, and complexity would make it too impractical given the alternatives at the time.
Having the magazine on top is a good design for a small PDW, but for the military it limits the ability to customize the weapon. The magazine has a fixed round count that can't increase, and top fed magazines are awkward in shape and somewhat more difficult to carry. If a drum magazine, extended magazine or shorter or longer magazine is desired, the weapon cannot fullfill this. While it's magazine held 45 rounds and was very low profile, thus allowing a soldier to lay prone with the weapon, it only allowed for a single configuration. Marsksmen weapon, SAW weapons, or just other general purpose configurations were not available, as only one magazine type was afforded. While not a significant drawback and easy enough to work around, it did limit the design of the weapon somewhat.
Another drawback was it's absolutely tiny bullet. While in tandem with the military's philosophy of a lightweight, armor piercing round with the weight and size of a pistol bullet, able to shoot like a submachine gun, but with the range of 300 or so yards, it met this particular criteria perfectly but, the military would eventually decide that the lack of stopping power and effective range out to 600 yards would make the round too ineffective The 5.56mm, while notorious for it's low stopping power, still was better in most ways than the 4.6mm round which, only produced about 1400 joules, compared to the 5.56mm's 1800 joules. It also had relatively poor aerodynamics given it's small size, limiting it's maximum range to only about 450 yards or so, far less than that which was ultimately desired even if the design characteristics noted otherwise at the time. Nonetheless, the ballistics of the round are quite interesting as it mimics the 5.45mm x 39mm, the Russian equivalent of the American 5.56mm, while being approximately 2-3 times lighter weight. And this perhaps, was the greatest advantage of the G11.
The rounds, despite possessing nearly 1,400 joules and being able to pierce light armor out to 300-400 meters, were just 5.2 grams. This is compared to the Ak-74 at 10.75 grams, or 5.56mm at 12.5 grams. For roughly the same ballistics as an M4 carbine or Ak-74 (but not a full sized M16), it was around half the weight, allowing for twice as many rounds to be carried. A soldier could theoretically carry 700 rounds for every 300 of the soldier's 5.56mm, and nearly 1500 rounds for every 300 rounds of 7.62mm x 51mm NATO a soldier might be able to carry. While the range was limited, it was effective enough for most realistic combat ranges, and heavier or larger weapons could be used by a few members of the squad to provide long range capabilities when needed, instead of every soldier being equipped with a long range precision rifle. Further, the bullpup weapon was only 29.5 inches long, the length of a fully collapsed m4 carbine, but had the barrel length of a full sized M16, giving it the power of a full sized rifle inside the size of a carbine. While it was very heavy, it was overall fairly compact, and thus made it easy to maneuver in close quarters, despite it's otherwise cumbersome nature. The heavy size also reduced the recoil, giving it very little, and this in turn along with the free floating barrel gave it incredible accuracy for a standard rifle at the time. Overall, many of the basic concepts of the weapon were good, but it failed to live up to all the expectations and various aspects of the program bled in to others, reducing the overall practicality of the weapon. By just removing the 3-round burst mechanism and setting the RPM to 600 RPM permanently, it likely could have been as light weight and small as any PDW, such as the P90 or MP7, while maintaining the power of a small assault rifle. If the weapon could have been the same weight as the P90, it would have been a direct competitor for that weapon, along with the MP7, given it's already otherwise small size and light recoil. The ammunition is also about the same weight as both the 5.7mm and 4.6mm rounds, despite having nearly 3 times the energy as them. This incredible weight-to-strength ratio of the bullets was the weapon's biggest advantage, an advantage that was never realized in subsequent military rifles due to the canceling of the program. If used for other bullets however, hope for the basic core of the design could perhaps be realized in the future.
Modern day Caseless rounds - Where they are now
Caseless rounds have many advantages, the greatest being the reduced weight. Caseless rounds in general are nearly half the weight of comparative cased rounds, as brass tends to make up half the weight of the total cartridge weight of any round. A 5.56mm for instance has a 4.1 gram bullet, roughly 2 grams of powder, and a 6.5 gram brass case. When the weight of the case is eliminated, the weight of the round is only 6.1 grams, which is nearly half of the 12.5 grams it would be with the brass case otherwise. When the 7.62mm x 51mm NATO is compared, with a 9.7 gram bullet and 3.6 grams of powder, it's only 13.3 grams, or nearly half the weight of the 25.5 gram brass cased version. It also becomes the weight of the 5.56mm, allowing for the same amount of rounds to be carried by a .308 machine gunner as a 5.56mm machine gunner, effectively eliminating the primary advantage of the 5.56mm over the .308. The 6.5mm grendel goes from 16.5 to 10 grams, making it also considerably lighter in comparison.
In addition to this is somewhat increased reliability when no need for an ejected case is present (thus eliminating stove pipes or rounds stuck in the chamber), which also allows for a more sealed off mechanism less prone to being exposed to dirt or grime, given that it can have a completely closed chamber. The weapon most notably can have less recoil, due to the reduced weight of the now absent backwards recoiling brass, which also allows the weapon to be smaller. An ATK caseless 5.56mm machine gun for example is only 10 pounds compared to 17.5 pounds for an M249, and a 7.62mm machine gun is only 14 pounds compared to 27.5 pounds for the M240. All of this is with no reduction in reliability, and with significantly lighter recoil. When the weight of ammunition and the gun is considered for approximately 1,000 rounds, the average 5.56mm machine gunner can save over 25 pounds, putting their gear weight at almost identical levels to other soldiers in a squad, or decreasing the combat load from 100 pounds, to 75 pounds. If the same load-out weight is used, than the average machine gunner's gear load-out goes from 1,000 rounds, to nearly 3,000. This all with a weapon that is itself nearly 7.5 pounds lighter, handles like a rifle, and is easier to use in close quarters. The potential for this is staggering, and special forces or heavy machine gunners who traditionally carry heavier load-outs could see the true benefits of such a weapons platform. The average soldier could become a machine gunner, effectively eliminating any difference between a standard machine gun and rifle in a squad.
Switching every round over to far more accurate and powerful rounds, such as the 6.5mm grendel, could allow everyone to become a marksmen, as well. The high BC or good aerodynamics of the round would allow for long range target acquisition, as the grendel outperforms the .308 past 600 yards, but it also allows for the same light weight and low recoil that comes from the majority of intermediate cartridges. The round itself is fairly powerful, having the same sized bullet with even more power as the 7.62mm x 39mm, but even better accuracy and range than the 5.56mm. The potential here is for every soldier to be a marskmen, machine gunner and riflemen at the same time with no increase in weight or handling over a standard riflemen's load-out. The weapon's essentially perform and feel like rifles, but have the reliability and magazine capacities of machine guns. While certainly not a perfect weapon, it would allow for a sort of holy-grail among military weapons to be achieved, sought after since WWII. And thus the potential of the design, coming from the G11's caseless rounds, still lives on today. Ultimately, these are the weapons of the future, and while the G11 was discontinued, it's legacy can and likely still will live on.
The G11 is one of the most unique and interesting firearms in modern history, that was evaluated by both U.S. and German military forces as a new replacement for their older weapon systems, in direct competition with the AR-15, but that ultimately never came to fruition. While certainly a very capable firearm in many respects, it's overly ambitious features that it more or less lacked the developed technology for at the time severely hampered it's capabilities and as a result, paved the way for more conventional, proven designs to take it's place. However, what it achieved by itself is still quite tremendous even by today's standards, and is what the modern U.S. military caseless programs is based on. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and the creator of the Nobel peace foundation, helped work on the caseless cartridges, providing them with a very shock insensitive binder that not only held the powder together without need for a case, but raised the auto-ignition temperature by over 200 degrees Fahrenheit and made the rounds significantly less prone to "cook-offs" or accidental ignition. This made the rounds safe enough to be used without a case, without any fear or chance of the right accidentally going off when they weren't supposed and creating a safety hzard. Like C-4 or dynamite, the explosive filler is completely harmless unless detonated with a very precise type of explosive itself, making it very safe to handle. Lighting it on fire or even shooting it with a gun won't make it go off by accident, which a regular brass case would. Only by striking the primer is the round likely to detonate, which was a primary issue and safety concern for the weapon, which was then and now proven to be remedied.
While the basic design of the caseless rounds were fairly well proven at the time, other features of the guns proved to be too much. The weapon used square shape rounds which in addition to being rather difficult to manufacture, reduced reliability somewhat and increased the complexity of the feeding mechanism. Rounded bullets by comparison are completely symmetrical and equal on all sides which makes them able to be loaded in to a gun at any angle without issue. A rotating bolt or slightly shifting bullet won't cause any malfunctions, as the bullets can be loaded in, twist, and yet still function reliably. Square shaped cartridges require an exact loading process, which necessitates greater precision and thus creates greater chances of error in the loading process, reducing the reliability somewhat. The only advantage of the square cased rounds was more propellant being able to fill a magazine, making the magazine capacity greater for it's size, but this ultimately would prove to be too small of a gain to offset the disadvantages of the increased complexity and decreased reliability. It was innovative for it's time, but ultimately didn't provide enough benefits to offset the drawbacks. Another issue was it's "hyper burst" 3-round burst firing mechanism, designed to fire 3 rounds at incredibly high RPM, around 2100 RPM. While the goal of the design more or less met the criteria set about by the U.S. military, that is the ability to fire lots of little rounds when needed, and a group of small rounds equaling one big round, it ultimately would prove to perhaps be the biggest nail in the coffin for the G11.
The "hyper-burst" essentially was designed to fire 3 rounds so fast in a row that the recoil of the round wouldn't be felt until the last round had already left the barrel. This would allow for 3 rounds to theoretically land almost on top of each other, effectively tripling the power of the round. This would allow a much smaller, lighter round to be used at long range and to hit moving targets, but at close ranges or situations that necessitated stopping power or armor penetration, the 3 round burst could allow rounds to land right on top of each other, and thus increase the power output. The round's energy was around 1400 joules with a 3.33 gram round, giving it roughly comparable ballistics to the .308 in terms of energy and mass when fired in the 3-round burst. More so, this met the military's criteria at the time, which perceived more rounds firing in a battle as key to victory. The military found that in WWII the side that fired the most rounds, irregardless of the round type, was more likely to succeed. Based around this philosophy, a gun that could fire lots of little bullets was considered better than a gun that fired one big bullet. As long as the smaller bullets had the same range and penetration as the big bullet, it could be fired separately as 1 round at a time, or in bursts to increase the damage; as it's impossible to go smaller but always possible to increase in size, the idea was that lots of little bullets could be the solution to both problems. This mechanism had it's problems however, severely increasing the wear and tear on the gun, decreasing reliability and significantly increasing the price. The higher RPM tended to wear on parts and overheat the weapon faster, which was already an issue given the firing mechanism involved. It also increased the weight of the weapon substantially, to 8-9 pounds, far heavier than the comparable AR-15 at 6.5 to 7.5 pounds, and despite being bullpup was awkward and difficult to maneuver. For a weapon that fired such a tiny, weak bullet, it was relatively large and cumbersome in comparison to the power output, giving question as to why the weapon would be used instead. Finally, the weapon could only fire at 460 rpm when not in the hyper burst mode, far below the 600-700 standard RPM for most rifles, making it perform more poorly in regular semiautomatic or fully automatic fire. Most likely, this single mechanism would be the weapon's undoing, as the increased weight, price, and complexity would make it too impractical given the alternatives at the time.
Having the magazine on top is a good design for a small PDW, but for the military it limits the ability to customize the weapon. The magazine has a fixed round count that can't increase, and top fed magazines are awkward in shape and somewhat more difficult to carry. If a drum magazine, extended magazine or shorter or longer magazine is desired, the weapon cannot fullfill this. While it's magazine held 45 rounds and was very low profile, thus allowing a soldier to lay prone with the weapon, it only allowed for a single configuration. Marsksmen weapon, SAW weapons, or just other general purpose configurations were not available, as only one magazine type was afforded. While not a significant drawback and easy enough to work around, it did limit the design of the weapon somewhat.
Another drawback was it's absolutely tiny bullet. While in tandem with the military's philosophy of a lightweight, armor piercing round with the weight and size of a pistol bullet, able to shoot like a submachine gun, but with the range of 300 or so yards, it met this particular criteria perfectly but, the military would eventually decide that the lack of stopping power and effective range out to 600 yards would make the round too ineffective The 5.56mm, while notorious for it's low stopping power, still was better in most ways than the 4.6mm round which, only produced about 1400 joules, compared to the 5.56mm's 1800 joules. It also had relatively poor aerodynamics given it's small size, limiting it's maximum range to only about 450 yards or so, far less than that which was ultimately desired even if the design characteristics noted otherwise at the time. Nonetheless, the ballistics of the round are quite interesting as it mimics the 5.45mm x 39mm, the Russian equivalent of the American 5.56mm, while being approximately 2-3 times lighter weight. And this perhaps, was the greatest advantage of the G11.
The rounds, despite possessing nearly 1,400 joules and being able to pierce light armor out to 300-400 meters, were just 5.2 grams. This is compared to the Ak-74 at 10.75 grams, or 5.56mm at 12.5 grams. For roughly the same ballistics as an M4 carbine or Ak-74 (but not a full sized M16), it was around half the weight, allowing for twice as many rounds to be carried. A soldier could theoretically carry 700 rounds for every 300 of the soldier's 5.56mm, and nearly 1500 rounds for every 300 rounds of 7.62mm x 51mm NATO a soldier might be able to carry. While the range was limited, it was effective enough for most realistic combat ranges, and heavier or larger weapons could be used by a few members of the squad to provide long range capabilities when needed, instead of every soldier being equipped with a long range precision rifle. Further, the bullpup weapon was only 29.5 inches long, the length of a fully collapsed m4 carbine, but had the barrel length of a full sized M16, giving it the power of a full sized rifle inside the size of a carbine. While it was very heavy, it was overall fairly compact, and thus made it easy to maneuver in close quarters, despite it's otherwise cumbersome nature. The heavy size also reduced the recoil, giving it very little, and this in turn along with the free floating barrel gave it incredible accuracy for a standard rifle at the time. Overall, many of the basic concepts of the weapon were good, but it failed to live up to all the expectations and various aspects of the program bled in to others, reducing the overall practicality of the weapon. By just removing the 3-round burst mechanism and setting the RPM to 600 RPM permanently, it likely could have been as light weight and small as any PDW, such as the P90 or MP7, while maintaining the power of a small assault rifle. If the weapon could have been the same weight as the P90, it would have been a direct competitor for that weapon, along with the MP7, given it's already otherwise small size and light recoil. The ammunition is also about the same weight as both the 5.7mm and 4.6mm rounds, despite having nearly 3 times the energy as them. This incredible weight-to-strength ratio of the bullets was the weapon's biggest advantage, an advantage that was never realized in subsequent military rifles due to the canceling of the program. If used for other bullets however, hope for the basic core of the design could perhaps be realized in the future.
Modern day Caseless rounds - Where they are now
Caseless rounds have many advantages, the greatest being the reduced weight. Caseless rounds in general are nearly half the weight of comparative cased rounds, as brass tends to make up half the weight of the total cartridge weight of any round. A 5.56mm for instance has a 4.1 gram bullet, roughly 2 grams of powder, and a 6.5 gram brass case. When the weight of the case is eliminated, the weight of the round is only 6.1 grams, which is nearly half of the 12.5 grams it would be with the brass case otherwise. When the 7.62mm x 51mm NATO is compared, with a 9.7 gram bullet and 3.6 grams of powder, it's only 13.3 grams, or nearly half the weight of the 25.5 gram brass cased version. It also becomes the weight of the 5.56mm, allowing for the same amount of rounds to be carried by a .308 machine gunner as a 5.56mm machine gunner, effectively eliminating the primary advantage of the 5.56mm over the .308. The 6.5mm grendel goes from 16.5 to 10 grams, making it also considerably lighter in comparison.
In addition to this is somewhat increased reliability when no need for an ejected case is present (thus eliminating stove pipes or rounds stuck in the chamber), which also allows for a more sealed off mechanism less prone to being exposed to dirt or grime, given that it can have a completely closed chamber. The weapon most notably can have less recoil, due to the reduced weight of the now absent backwards recoiling brass, which also allows the weapon to be smaller. An ATK caseless 5.56mm machine gun for example is only 10 pounds compared to 17.5 pounds for an M249, and a 7.62mm machine gun is only 14 pounds compared to 27.5 pounds for the M240. All of this is with no reduction in reliability, and with significantly lighter recoil. When the weight of ammunition and the gun is considered for approximately 1,000 rounds, the average 5.56mm machine gunner can save over 25 pounds, putting their gear weight at almost identical levels to other soldiers in a squad, or decreasing the combat load from 100 pounds, to 75 pounds. If the same load-out weight is used, than the average machine gunner's gear load-out goes from 1,000 rounds, to nearly 3,000. This all with a weapon that is itself nearly 7.5 pounds lighter, handles like a rifle, and is easier to use in close quarters. The potential for this is staggering, and special forces or heavy machine gunners who traditionally carry heavier load-outs could see the true benefits of such a weapons platform. The average soldier could become a machine gunner, effectively eliminating any difference between a standard machine gun and rifle in a squad.
Switching every round over to far more accurate and powerful rounds, such as the 6.5mm grendel, could allow everyone to become a marksmen, as well. The high BC or good aerodynamics of the round would allow for long range target acquisition, as the grendel outperforms the .308 past 600 yards, but it also allows for the same light weight and low recoil that comes from the majority of intermediate cartridges. The round itself is fairly powerful, having the same sized bullet with even more power as the 7.62mm x 39mm, but even better accuracy and range than the 5.56mm. The potential here is for every soldier to be a marskmen, machine gunner and riflemen at the same time with no increase in weight or handling over a standard riflemen's load-out. The weapon's essentially perform and feel like rifles, but have the reliability and magazine capacities of machine guns. While certainly not a perfect weapon, it would allow for a sort of holy-grail among military weapons to be achieved, sought after since WWII. And thus the potential of the design, coming from the G11's caseless rounds, still lives on today. Ultimately, these are the weapons of the future, and while the G11 was discontinued, it's legacy can and likely still will live on.
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