The US Army’s M17 Modular Handgun System, derived from the SIG P320 handgun, has crossed one of the final hurdles on the track to full replacement of previous service handguns (including chiefly the Beretta M9). The United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have all announced their acceptance of the M17 MHS as the new sidearm for each respective service, according to a story written by Matthew Cox for KitUp!

The Modular Handgun System competition was decided with an announcement in late January that SIG Sauer had beaten out FN, Glock, and Beretta for the massive $500 million dollar contract for future 21st Century US Army sidearms. A protest on the decision from Glock is still pending a Government Accounting Office (GAO) ruling, which is expected by early June.

The M17 MHS is a derivative of the SIG Sauer P320 handgun which sports interchangeable grip modules, suppressor support via a threaded barrel, interchangeable slide lengths on a single frame, and an integral optics mounting plate. Departing from the complex double action/single action hammer fired mechanism of the previous M9 pistol, the M17 Modular Handgun System utilizes a much simpler and cheaper striker fired design pioneered by the famous Glock family of handguns and utilized by SIG starting with the P320.