The Heckler und Koch G-36 assault rifle had been born as HK-50 project in early 1990s. The reason behind that project was that the Bundeswehr (the German army), after the cancellation of the G11 and G41 projects, was left with outdated G3 rifle and no modern rifle that was compatible with the current NATO standards at hands. So, the famous company Heckler & Koch was set to develop a new assault rifle for the both German army and the export. The new rifle should have been a flexible, affordable and extremely reliable design. And a modern of cause. It seems that the HK succeeds in every respect with the G36. The new 5.56mm assault rifle had been adopted by the Bundeswehr in the 1995, and in the 1999 the Spain adopted its slightly different, export version, G36E as its standard infantry rifle. The G36 also found its way into the hands of various law enforcement agencies worldwide, including British police and some US police departments. So far I've heard very few complaints about this rifle, and a lot of good revives and opinions. In fact, the only complaints about G36 that I know are the overheating of the hand guards during the sustained fire, and the loose of zero of built in scope on some G36KE rifles, used by US police. Otherwise it is a really fine rifle, accurate, reliable, simple in operations and maintenance, and available in a wide variety of versions - from the short-barreled Commando (some even said that it's a submachine gun) G36C and up to a standard G36 rifle and the MG36 squad automatic (light machine gun).