Today, the news broke that SIG USA has become the winner of the United States Army’s Modular Handgun System contract, making its P320 handgun the next standard issue sidearm for the United States armed forces. The new pistol, to be designated “M17”, is a smaller, lighter, more adaptable handgun than the US Army’s aging M9, made by Beretta.
At the 2017 SHOT Show, SIG’s representaives were very aware of their win of the $500 million dollar contract, but all remained tight-lipped as SIG’s officers retired to the back room of their booth to iron out a statement about the victory, to be released later. When asked, SIG reps replied with various forms of “no comment”. All that they would tell TFB was that the manual safety model of their P320 Compact model was the closest firearm on the showroom floor to the weapon submitted to MHS, which squares with an earlier article by Soldier Systems that covers their submission. We, of course, grabbed photos of the pistol as well as the growing reaction to the news at SIG’s booth.
Stay tuned to The Firearm Blog, we will be updating this story as it develops, including when they make their announcement about their victory in the MHS competition.
