Earlier this week TFB reported that France had selected the Glock 17 as their new service pistol. The French government confirmed that an order for just under 75,000 pistols had been made.

We now have some more details on the pistol and its features from Glock and the French military. You can find the French government’s statement on the pistol purchase here. Glock have released their own statement on the contract and some great new photos of the gun itself.

Left-side profile of France’s new Glock 17 (Glock)

Right-side profile of France’s new Glock 17 (Glock)

The tender for the new pistols was launched in March 2019, with a number of competing pistols evaluated in ‘stringent testing’. The testing involved reliability trials and user field testing with Glock noting in their announcement statement that there was a ‘minimum expected lifetime of 26,350 rounds’ from French evaluators at the Section Technique de l’Armée de Terre.

Glock’s U-shaped luminescent sights (Glock)

The French military’s new Glock 17s are Gen 5 with black slides and controls and FDE frames. They come with a lanyard and it appears that the holster selected for the new pistol is an FDE Blackhawk T-Series L3D, which has a thumb-activated retention system. As seen above, the French military have opted for Glock’s U-shaped luminescent sights rather than traditional tritium dots.

The new French Glock with lanyard (Glock)

The procurement was made in conjunction with Glock’s French military market partners Armurerie de la Bourse. The new Pistolets Semi-Automatiques (PSA) will replace the legacy PAMAS G1 (French-manufactured Beretta 92) and the MAC 50 currently in service.

As Eric mentioned in his previous article, the French military have also purchased a training system from UTM, Glock have clarified that the training system is not a conversion kit but a dedicated model, the GLOCK 17T Gen5 UTM.

The French Glock 17 in its Blackhawk T-Series L3D holster (Glock)

Richard Flür, International Sales Director at GLOCK, said:

This award follows several Armies in Europe and throughout the World. The importance of the program is underlined by the fact that it will equip all French troops both regular but also special operations with GLOCK pistols. We are very proud and honored to deliver our high-quality Safe Action pistols, as well as excellent and reliable accessories to the French military.

The new pistol in its Blackhawk holster mounted on a chest rig (Glock)

The French Army have also shared a short video introducing the new pistol, treating us to some video from the range and briefly showing off the accessories and kit that will be used with the new Glock. Check out the video below:

Découvrez le #Glock17, calibre de 9mm avec capacité d’aide à la visée nocturne, qui remplacera le #PAMAC50 et les #PAMAS G1. Sur les 74 596 pistolets semi-automatiques (PSA) commandés, 80% sont destinés à l’@armeedeterre. #LPM pic.twitter.com/t0LPIigiLR

— Armée de Terre (@armeedeterre) January 7, 2020

In the French Army’s video, we also get a fleeting look at the MOS version of the pistol, destined for Special Forces use, and the suppressor that will be used with it. It appears to be a B&T IMPULS II.

A screenshot from the French Army’s video showing the pistol’s kit and accessories and the pistol fitted with a suppressor (French Army)

Fulfillment of the 3-year contract, worth 44 million Euros, is already underway with pistols set to begin reaching units in the first quarter of 2020.

Be sure to also check out Eric’s earlier article about France’s new pistol and his write-up on the new semi-auto precision rifle they have just adopted too.