“The Most Important Military Handgun Contract Of Our Generation.”
It’s official: The Sig Sauer P320 is the winner of the XM17 Modular Handgun System competition to replace the Beretta M9 as the U.S. Army’s official service pistol. The Beretta M9 was adopted as the Army’s standard sidearm in 1985.
Sig beat out Glock, Smith & Wesson, FN America and Beretta to win the $580 million U.S. Army contract. Under the Modular Handgun System program, the full size and compact P320 will be delivered over a period of 10 years. All guns will be configurable to receive silencers and will include both standard and extended capacity mags, the press release says.
The incredibly reliable Sig P320 made its debut in 2014. It’s a polymer striker-fired gun as well as the first modular pistol with interchangeable grips that can be adjusted by the end user. All of the P320s to be used by the Army will be manufactured at Sig’s facilities in New Hampshire.
“I am tremendously proud of the Modular Handgun System team,” Army Acquisition Executive Steffanie Easter said. “By maximizing full and open competition across our industry partners, we have optimized private sector advancements in handguns, ammunition and magazines and the end result will ensure a decidedly superior weapon system for our Warfighters. As MHS moves forward into operational testing, the due diligence taken by all of the stakeholders will ensure a program that remains on-budget and on-schedule.”
“We are both humbled and proud that the P320 was selected by the U.S. Army as its weapon of choice,” Sig Sauer CEO Ron Cohen said. “Securing this contract is a testimony to Sig Sauer employees, their commitment to innovation, quality and manufacturing the most reliable firearms in the world.”
The $580 million contract runs through 2027 with the first round of orders reported to cost more than $100 million.
sources: sigsauer.com, Youtube, personaldefenseworld.com, americanrifleman.org, Wikipedia