Heckler & Koch will develop weapons for Soviet cartridges
Intermediate cartridge 7,62x39 mm
The German company Heckler & Koch plans to enter new markets and attract new potential customers. To achieve this, they are going to expand the range of manufactured small arms. weapons all classes. New modifications of existing products will be developed, designed for Soviet / Russian-style cartridges. It is expected that such measures will lead to increased interest from buyers and improve the company's financial performance.
New calibers
Heckler & Koch's new plans to expand its product line were revealed on May 14 by the German publication Welt. The publication received information of this kind from unnamed representatives of the enterprise. Basic ideas, premises and solutions are reported, but precise plans for expanding weapons development and production have not yet been published.
According to Welt, the Heckler-Koch company will continue to produce weapons chambered for NATO standards, and this area will remain a priority. At the same time, modifications of such systems will be developed for USSR / Warsaw Pact cartridges. The company believes that there is a need in the market for such products, and they want to make money on it.
At the moment, the company is studying the proposed concept, determining its prospects and conducting preliminary research. In the future, full-fledged design work should begin, as a result of which updated weapon models will appear. Exactly which products from the current product line will be rebuilt for the new cartridges, and when this will happen, Heckler & Koch and Welt do not specify.
Heckler & Koch HK 433 automatic rifle chambered for the NATO cartridge 5,56x45 mm
In the context of market needs, Welt refers to the experience of Ukrainian armed forces. Despite the supply of foreign weapons for NATO ammunition, incl. Heckler-Koch products, militants of the Kyiv regime continue to use Soviet weapons and corresponding ammunition. Heckler & Koch believes that this situation shows the need to develop new weapons for Soviet ammunition.
The armies and security forces of different countries that retain the Soviet range of ammunition are considered as future buyers of new weapons. There are plenty of customers of this kind in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and Heckler & Koch plans to meet their needs for modern weapons without having to rebuild the entire weapons system. In addition, modified samples will be offered to civilian buyers in different countries, primarily in the USA.
Financial Prerequisites
In its article about Heckler & Koch's new plans, Welt draws attention to the company's financial statements for 2023. The company's operating results last year were mixed, and some indicators fell noticeably. At the same time, the company’s management does not see anything terrible in this situation. A drop in performance is called a respite before the next stage of growth.
Last year, Heckler-Koch supplied customers with products worth 301 million euros, which is slightly less than the results of 2022. The volume of orders for the year decreased by 11%, to 285 million euros. At the same time, the company notes that demand for its products has remained almost unchanged. Consolidated profit decreased from 50,6 million euros to 28,7 million euros.
In 2022, about 43% of the German company's products went to the United States, mainly to the civilian market. Last year, 2023, the share of exports to the United States dropped to 37%. At the same time, sales on the German domestic market increased - from 21 to 23%.
Product HK 132E using a Soviet intermediate cartridge
Overall, last year was not the most successful for Heckler & Koch. However, the company continues to operate and is looking for new customers. In recent months, it has received a number of lucrative contracts from the armies and other structures of European countries. This is expected to improve the performance of the current year 2024 and bring the overall results into positive territory.
Obviously, the idea of developing new modifications of weapons for Soviet cartridges is directly related to the unsuccessful last year. With these products, Heckler & Koch wants to attract new customers outside of its traditional markets. Their contracts will help offset the decline in sales in the US and Europe, as well as improve the company's position as a whole.
Adaptation issues
It should be noted that Heckler & Koch already has experience adapting its weapons to Soviet-style cartridges. Design problems of this kind were previously solved in two projects. At the same time, as far as we know, both resulting samples were generally not of interest to buyers.
The first attempt to use Soviet ammunition took place back in the fifties. Then the Heckler-Koch company presented the HK 32 automatic rifle and its shortened version, the HK 32K. In essence, it was the well-known G3 rifle, rebuilt for the 7,62x39 mm cartridge. The abandonment of a powerful rifle cartridge made it possible to improve accuracy and accuracy, although it reduced the firing range.
The development company entered the HK 32 rifle into several foreign competitions, but did not achieve the desired results. According to various sources, it was possible to receive only one order for a limited batch of rifles. Due to lack of demand, Heckler & Koch stopped promoting this weapon in the sixties.
One of the variants of the HK 32 rifle
A new attempt to redesign an existing product was made in the recent past. Last December, Heckler-Koch presented the HK 132E automatic rifle, based on the serial HK 433. The basic product uses the standard NATO cartridge 5,56x45 mm, and the new model is designed for 7,62x39 mm. The company is now looking for customers and is probably preparing to participate in competitions.
The Heckler & Koch product catalog contains a range of small arms of all major classes, from pistols to machine guns. The company already has experience in adapting rifles for the Soviet intermediate cartridge and can use it when creating new projects of this kind. In addition, existing developments can be expanded to other classes. In particular, it is possible to create modifications of machine guns chambered for the 7,62x54 mm R rifle cartridge, which is also popular around the world.
Obvious difficulties
It should be expected that the implementation of the proposed concept and the development of updated weapons will encounter various difficulties. There may be technical and economic difficulties due to which development will be delayed and commercial results may not meet expectations.
First of all, you need to take into account that rebuilding a weapon for a new cartridge always involves reworking its main parts. A finished design optimized for a specific ammunition cannot always be changed without compromises and risks. At the same time, the tactical and technical characteristics and reliability of the resulting sample may be insufficient.
The commercial prospects of such rifles and machine guns are also questionable. They are going to be sold, first of all, to foreign armies using Soviet-style weapons. However, there is no guarantee that such potential customers will actually want to buy Heckler & Koch products and change their weapons system, even while maintaining existing cartridges.
The MG5 machine gun using the 5,56x45 mm cartridge is a potential candidate for rebuilding
In addition, competition must be taken into account. Some of the countries that Heckler-Koch is paying attention to continue to cooperate with Russian or Chinese weapons manufacturers. For them to change the main supplier, serious arguments will be required in the form of decisive technical or economic advantages. Whether Heckler & Koch will be able to provide them is unknown.
Promising projects are also considered from the point of view of the civilian market, and in this case problems should also be expected. The fact is that the bulk of Soviet-style cartridges are on foreign markets, incl. in the USA and Germany, supplied by Russian companies. Sanctions against our enterprises led to a halt in such supplies and to a deterioration in the situation on foreign ammunition markets. Foreign manufacturers cannot fully replace the lost part of supplies, which leads to understandable negative consequences of various kinds. In such a situation, Heckler-Koch rifles chambered for the Soviet cartridge can hardly count on commercial success.
Big plans
Heckler & Koch, like many other German companies, has faced serious difficulties in the last year or two, and its financial performance has fallen markedly. In this regard, we have to look for new markets and new buyers. For this purpose, it is proposed to expand the range of products, and through the implementation of an interesting and seemingly promising idea.
In the near future, Heckler-Koch will have to develop and introduce new modifications of weapons for Soviet / Russian cartridges. Then they will be brought to the market and begin to look for buyers. How successful this process will be is unknown. So far there are reasons for both positive and negative forecasts.
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