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Suhl (dpa) - In the dispute over a major assault rifle order, the Thuringian weapons manufacturer CG Haenel does not give up.
The company announced on Friday in Suhl that complaints had been submitted to the Bundeswehr Procurement Office.
This is a prerequisite for initiating an award complaint later - this would have suspensive effect for the award of the contract.
The Federal Ministry of Defense recently excluded Haenel from the award procedure because of evidence of patent infringements.
Instead, the competitor Heckler & Koch (HK) should come into play.
It is about 120,000 assault rifles that are to replace the "G36" manufactured by HK.
In the communication, Haenel makes detailed statements to the public for the first time on the individual allegations.
There is no patent infringement, it says in the letter with reference to an expert report submitted by Haenel.
At the center of the dispute is an “over the beach” patent.
This is about boreholes that should allow water to drain off quickly and to be ready to fire, for example when soldiers land on the beach and first wade through water - hence the term.
Heckler & Koch accuses Haenel of a patent infringement because of this - separately from the award procedure - before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
Haenel now claims, however, that in its own assault rifle "a completely different technical solution for draining the entering water than the relevant patent by Heckler & Koch" is used.
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According to Haenel, the second “alleged infringement of patent rights” by the federal government should not lead to exclusion from the award procedure - this concerns the rifle's magazine.
In addition, the Thuringian company rejects the accusation of having improperly changed tender documents.
"If an offer could be ruled out, it would clearly be the offer from Heckler & Koch," because the competitor deviated from the tender documents, according to Haenel.
Last year, the small company, which belongs to an Arab armaments company, surprisingly won the bid for the prestigious contract.
Then the initially defeated Bundeswehr standard supplier Heckler & Koch appealed.
In fact, the Federal Ministry of Defense, with the procurement office subordinate to it, reconsidered its decision and made a U-turn - for HK and against Haenel.
One thing is already certain: the re-arming of the troops, which has already been significantly delayed, will continue to be a long time coming.
Because, according to public procurement lawyers, it could take until autumn before the passage through the courts could come to an end.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210305-99-707611 / 2