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The Army’s Next Pistol will be the Sig Sauer

Via Army Times. Half a decade into its search for a new handgun, the Army has chosen Sig Sauer’s version of the Modular Handgun System, according to a Thursday announcement from the Army. The new sidearm will replace the M9 Beretta, the Army’s pistol of choice for more than 30 years. "I am tremendously proud…

Via Army Times.

Half a decade into its search for a new handgun, the Army has chosen Sig Sauer’s version of the Modular Handgun System, according to a Thursday announcement from the Army.
The new sidearm will replace the M9 Beretta, the Army’s pistol of choice for more than 30 years.
"I am tremendously proud of the Modular Handgun System team," said Army acquisition executive Steffanie Easter in the release. "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."
The Army first announced the competition for the MHS back in 2011, but multiple delays left the most recent solicitation deadline at February of 2016.

Here’s what pisses me off about our military procurement system.

It’s. A. Pistol.

And it has taken 5 years just to run the selection process for what is essentially one of the least important pieces of military equipment.

It is simply not that hard. If the services had a little more flexibility to handle the smaller acquisition programs, they could have simply bought a couple of each of the leading contenders, given some for testing, and gotten troop feedback from the others, then simply bought what they needed in about 6 months.

The vast layers of bureaucracy that we’ve accreted over the years to improve procurement and eliminate waste have simply turned every program into a sclerotic mess that simply takes too long to buy anything, and of course, time is money in procurement. The longer it takes, the more it costs.

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Responses to “The Army’s Next Pistol will be the Sig Sauer”

  1. ron snyder

    This type of incompetence will be low hanging fruit for Mattis. Hopefully it will also be career ending for those responsible for the ClusterFook.

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  2. Veeshir

    Changing the DOD bureaucracy isn’t going to be easy.
    Rumsfeld was trying to do that in early 2001 and he was hated, leaked about, lied about and hated by every bureaucrat in the DOD.
    9/11 changed his focus, but the bureaucrats hated him mightily the whole time he was there.
    It’s like Trump trying to make the State Dept. worry about Islamic terrorism instead of climate grifting.
    I’m rooting for him, but there’s gonna be a lot of anger, lying and hatred emanating from our fine bureaucratic masters.
    If anybody can do it, it’s Mattis.
    Since neither Mattis nor Trump care about the sensitive sensibilities of our fine OUTRAGE!!!!!!! mongers who hate him anyway, it should be fun.

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  3. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    It’s a Pistol, hah. Be careful, you’re making sense.

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  4. CT II Raven

    There will NEVER be acquisition reform unit each and every individual responsible for acquisition is FIRED, especially the woeful ACE at WPAFB (the ‘experts” who’s “efforts” have brought multiple successful protested acquisitions)
    For example, did away with MIL-STDs at one point, so the acquisition “professionals” just wrote, verbatim, the MIL-STDs into the specs

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  5. BigFire

    Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy at works here. Any bureaucracy, regardless of its mission will evolved to serve itself. There are no exception.

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  6. Quartermaster

    At least they chose a good one.

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  7. SCOTTtheBADGER

    I got a SIG P250C/45 as a birthday present a couple of years ago. Of course, I named it Precious. The winner is the striker version of the P-250, the P320. They should like it.

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