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View Full Version : G36's for Lithuania


Slater
08-30-16, 19:08
Kind of curious what these new modifications will look like. Possibly something already in service somewhere?

VILNIUS, Lithuania, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The Lithuanian military is procuring additional G-36 rifles and 40mm under-barrel grenade launchers.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2016/08/30/Lithuania-orders-more-rifles-grenade-launchers/9261472570910/
Firefly
08-30-16, 20:15
Why not just get 416s? Why cheap out?

Maybe I'm biased but I cannot help but wonder why
Slater
08-30-16, 21:07
Well, the G36 does LOOK cooler...
Firefly
08-30-16, 21:11
Well, the G36 does LOOK cooler...

I dunno. If I'm going up against froggy Russians or Chechens, I want something way nicer than a G36.
MountainRaven
08-30-16, 22:29
Why not just get 416s? Why cheap out?

Maybe I'm biased but I cannot help but wonder why

Lithuania has a population of some 2.88 million and a per capita GDP just under $15,000. The other Baltic nations basically get their guns for free from Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Norway.

Norway - the only country to have adopted the HK416 for general issue - has a population of 5.21 million and a per capita GDP over $70,000. And frankly, given their insane oil wealth and how long they ran their AG3s, they probably bought them more as an investment (they're planning on running them for the next thirty or forty years, in all likelihood) rather than on the basis of a sound per unit cost and maintenance.

The US (pop. 324 million, per capita GDP $57,220), which spends half the world's defense budget and might be the only country to have purchased more HK416s than Norway, only uses them in a specialized role in its second smallest military branch.

So my guess: The juice ain't worth the squeeze.

For reference, the chief 5.56mm rifle of Latvia (pop. 2 million, whose army consists of about 5,000 professional soldiers) is also the G36. Estonia (pop. 1.3 million, with an army approximately 6,00 strong, including conscripts), the other Baltic state's chief 5.56mm rifle is the Galil. You may not like the G36 and I may really like the Galil, but for a shooting war in 2016 with Russia, I think I'd rather have the G36. Especially since the US, Germany, and Spain can send G36 magazines loaded with 5.56mm measured by the ton.

I'd probably rather have a Colt Canada/Diemaco C8, but the Danes don't seem to be in any hurry to sell theirs and the US is too busy sending M16A4s and M4/M4A1s to Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, so the G36 would do.

Besides, it could be worse. They could be buying ARX-160s.
Firefly
08-30-16, 22:41
True. But G36s suck.

Can't they hold a Telethon or something.

Also it's pretty sad we are just giving free guns to people who are gonna use em on us or sell em off to other people who will use them on us when there are more deserving and needier people out there.
SteyrAUG
08-30-16, 23:29
True. But G36s suck.

Can't they hold a Telethon or something.

Also it's pretty sad we are just giving free guns to people who are gonna use em on us or sell em off to other people who will use them on us when there are more deserving and needier people out there.

Former commie block country unaccustomed to paying for their own defense needs. G36s are cheaper than 416s.
Aries144
08-30-16, 23:33
Besides, it could be worse. They could be buying ARX-160s.

What's up with the ARX-160?
MountainRaven
08-30-16, 23:38
Former commie block country unaccustomed to paying for their own defense needs. G36s are cheaper than 416s.

Combloc country that hated the Soviets so much they built a monument to the Waffen-SS. And then had a riot when the government came to remove it.

(OK, that was Estonia and the monument was dedicated to those who defended Estonia against the Soviet Union, which includes the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. Still, I gather this is a common sentiment across the non-Russophonic citizens of the Baltic states.)
SteyrAUG
08-30-16, 23:46
Combloc country that hated the Soviets so much they built a monument to the Waffen-SS. And then had a riot when the government came to remove it.

(OK, that was Estonia and the monument was dedicated to those who defended Estonia against the Soviet Union, which includes the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. Still, I gather this is a common sentiment across the non-Russophonic citizens of the Baltic states.)

Most "client states" weren't thrilled about Russia, but generations of communism had them thinking like communists.
MountainRaven
08-31-16, 00:16
What's up with the ARX-160?

It's Italian as f___.

Which is to say that nothing's wrong with it.

But it's still more wrong than the G36.


Most "client states" weren't thrilled about Russia, but generations of communism had them thinking like communists.

Funny how the former Combloc members of NATO seem to be the ones taking the most interest in their national defense: Poland and the Baltic states chief among them, while Germany - Europe's financial center - is giving away tanks to keep from having to pay to maintain them.

Germany has been a federal republic since 1949 and they run G36s. Spain was fascist for decades and they run G36s. So I'm not sure that it follows that Lithuania was communist, so now they use G36s.

The Baltic states have been observer members of the Nordic Council since 1991 and they seem to be learning fast - Skype was invented in Tallinn (which is in Estonia).

Lithuania also has a flat tax (which is among the lowest tax rates in the EU) and the lowest capital tax rate in the EU. They also have the continent's fastest internet and the European headquarters of Western Union. Which isn't a lot of bad things to have going for you when your entire country's population is basically North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.

They also have the highest homicide rate in the EU, but hey, gotta break a few eggs to make a capitalism omelette, right?
SteyrAUG
08-31-16, 02:06
Germany has been a federal republic since 1949 and they run G36s. Spain was fascist for decades and they run G36s. So I'm not sure that it follows that Lithuania was communist, so now they use G36s.


Yeah, you are missing it. I'm saying they are getting the G36s cheap, especially compared to something like a 416. And if they were taking national defense as seriously as you say, I don't think they'd go with a G36.

Germany is running the G36 because that is what HK gave them when it was time to upgrade from the G3. If HK had been hell bent on developing the 416 rather than trying to save the XM8 Germany would probably be issuing 416s.

Spain has a long tradition of using whatever Germany is making and sitting out most wars. Last time Spain had a war it was against Spain.