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Berlin (dpa) - The Ministry of Defense no longer wants to award the order for the delivery of the Bundeswehr's new assault rifle to the Thuringian weapons manufacturer Haenel.
Defense politicians from the government and opposition in the Bundestag were informed of a corresponding decision, as the German Press Agency in Berlin learned.
The ministry is therefore citing specific references to patent infringements, as presented in expert reports at the end of last year.
These concern the offered magazine of the Haenel weapon and special bores from which water that has penetrated can escape again ("over the beach").
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Haenel from Suhl had surprisingly prevailed in the bidding process for 120,000 weapons against the traditional supplier Heckler & Koch from Oberndorf, who is the only remaining bidder if Haenel is excluded and is now to be given a chance, as the MPs were told.
The Ministry of Defense initially withdrew the award to Haenel in October.
It is now expected that Haenel will file a complaint with the public procurement tribunal or take legal action later.
This can lead to possible compensation payments, it said.
Haenel had already announced a lawsuit should the company not be included in the award.
"Then we will take legal action on our part," said managing director Olaf Sauer of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" in January.
“We trust the process and remain confident that we will be awarded the contract.
In our opinion, an exclusion from the proceedings would not be justified. "
The arms company belongs to an Arab armaments company.
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An affair had developed in 2012 around the previous G36 model, which had already been supplied by Heckler & Koch, which began with indications of problems with accuracy.
According to later official investigations, these occurred after long sequences of fire or under the influence of heat.
The weapon is valued by the soldiers to this day.
The former Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen decided in 2015 to retire the G36.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210301-99-646178 / 2