MOSCOW, June 21The German armed forces will remove the G36 assault rifle from service later than originally planned, Spiegel magazine reports, citing internal documents from the German Ministry of Defense at its disposal.
“»According to internal documents from the office of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), the so-called planned phase-out of standard weapons from troops must be suspended in order to ensure sufficient training materials for the planned new military service,» the publication writes. 
The reason is the desire of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to carry out a reform, as a result of which, already in 2025, about 5 thousand young men and women should be accepted into military service for six months and undergo training in handling weapons, the magazine explains. To provide them with the necessary number of small arms, G36 assault rifles will be needed. In addition, Pistorius's plans suggest that the number of conscripts should increase in the coming years. The Minister of Defense also intends to intensify the formation of territorial defense units, which mainly consist of reservists, Spiegel points out.
In order to ensure the process of training conscripts with weapons and military equipment, it is planned to postpone the decommissioning of not only G36 assault rifles, but also Marder infantry fighting vehicles, as well as Fuchs armored personnel carriers, writes Spiegel.
The magazine recalls that the decision to replace the G36 assault rifle produced by Heckler & Koch for the G95 model of the same manufacturer was accepted back in 2021 due to problems with shooting accuracy.