I agree, balance can play a big role especially when dealing with shorter/lighter rigs. I think the S&B US 5-20 often gets overlooked for other higher mag options, I think the 5-20 is a better design optically vs. the 3-20. The US 5-20 with offset RDS makes for a very compelling duo on a DMR style rifle as well as crossover designs.
That may be why we have not seen a replacement for the 3-18, they may have tried but the optical compromises to get a lighter scope may have been too much which would require re-thinking internals to get the weight down. I don't think it's beyond the scope of the design team for the RG3 series, but it may show up in the Razor LHT line or even better the Razor AMG line.
Steiner just did with their H6Xi 2-12x42 at 23oz. March has the 1.5-15x42 at 24oz. So we already have some within the industry pushing this.
And it would be SFP sooooo...
Ouch. I think Trijicon already tried with their Credo 2-10x36, a lot of shooters like this scope but reticle was not designed for 2x use.
Unless there was a big military push for this not sure Schmidt even knows there's a market for this. The USA is the largest market for gas gun rifles and many manufacturers (outside the US) simply do not understand this market so they go after military contracts (both US and foreign) and military is usually behind anyway. Schmidt could likely get the scope right, they just would not get the reticle right, well, at least not for about 5 years at least.