#NATO

In a recent article, Guns & Ammo editor Eric Poole gave us our first look at the Army’s new XM17 Modular Handgun System in action. Within the 3:12 runtime of the brief video, Poole gives a rundown of the handgun’s features and advertised benefits vs. the legacy Beretta M9 handguns currently in service, and gives us our first taste of the P320-derived XM17 in use on the range. Unfortunately, G&A has disabled video embedding, so the video can be found by following the link over to their website, and viewing it there.

In the rush to augment the infantry’s firepower with new advanced small arms technologies, we may be on the precipice of crippling their ability to fight wars. The push to equip the infantryman with more powerful rifles and machine guns risks reducing his mobility to critical levels, and “locking out” his capacity to carry powerful supporting arms. Although more potent basic infantry weapons are undeniably desirable, current attitudes towards their purpose – exemplified by the concept of “overmatch” – may compound problems that already have reached crisis levels.

NATO member and ally the Republic of Estonia has released a tender with up to €75 million (roughly $86 million USD) for nearly 20,000 new rifles in both the 5.56mm and 7.62mm calibers, according to reports from IHS Janes’ and other outlets. The new contract is intended to supply both brigades of the Estonian Land Forces with new weapons, replacing their aging Ak4 (license-built Swedish G3s) and Galil rifles.

After 13 years of searching for the US Army’s next pistol, a successor to the Beretta M9 has been selected. However, with the selection of the SIG P320 as the M17 and M18 Modular Handgun System, many individuals in the industry have been compelled to cry foul and demand the Army retry the competition between the two finalists, Glock and SIG.

Glock isn’t done yet: Despite being passed over by the Army and having their protest of the MHS contract rejected by the GAO, Glock is still hoping for a chance. In a recent interview with Matthew Cox of Military.com, Glock Vice President Josh Dorsey spoke out against the Army’s decision to adopt the SIG Sauer P320 as the new M17 Modular Handgun System. Dorsey’s comments, excerpted below, express dissatisfaction with the Army’s selection process:

Shepard Media has recently reported that the entire Latvian National Guard will soon be receiving a full fielding of 5.56x45mm NATO G36KVs infantry rifles and 7.62x51mm NATO KSP-58 medium machine guns (FN MAGs) from the Latvian National Armed Forces (NAF) to replace former AK-4 rifles (Swedish licensed G3s) within the National Guard. The Latvian National Guard currently already has a mixture of AK-4s and G36KVs, but this new fielding will completely replace AK-4s and ensure that the entire Latvian military contingent has G36KVs and KSP-58s across the board. These rifles come equipped with Aimpoint optics of a similar version to the red dot M68 CCO, mounted on the 12 o’clock picatinny optic rail.

This guest post and accompanying photographs are contributed by a guest writer, Alton Chiu. Alton currently writes for Small Arms Review. This is his second article contribution to TFB and is on the merits of using .22 LR ammunition for training. 

The Georgian Ministry of Defense has released statements and even staged a demonstration wherein the land component of the Georgian Armed Forces will replace the 7.62x54R PKM medium machine guns with FN Herstal 7.62x51mm NATO M240Bs. This will be a gradual replacement over the next year or so as PKMs become switched out with M240Bs within the infantry and mechanized forces of the Republic of Georgia. Because the announcement specifically mentions “U.S. made” M240Bs, we’ve taken that to possibly mean that this purchase is either through Foreign Military Sales programs or that these are at least M240Bs previously in use by the U.S. Army and were replaced by M240Ls in active Army service.

The German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has announced the long-awaited program to replace the Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle in German Army service, reports the Polish gun magazine MilMag. According to the source, the BAAINBw released the tender for the new System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr on April 19, with all submissions due by May 22, 2017. Selection is expected to occur sometime in 2018, and production of whichever rifle is selected is slated for April 1, 2019, to continue through 31 March 2026. The 7-year contract is expected to have a total value of 245 million Euros, (~ USD 260 million).

Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked at length about both programs, the technology they developed, and the state of lightweight ammunition today. The interview, which spans fifty-five questions, will be broken up into three sections, each covering questions about different aspects of the program, to be published monthly once each in March, April, and May-wait, hold on,

Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked at length about both programs, the technology they developed, and the state of lightweight ammunition today. The interview, which spans fifty-five questions, will be broken up into three sections, each covering questions about different aspects of the program, to be published monthly once each in March, April, and May-wait, hold on,

Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked at length about both programs, the technology they developed, and the state of lightweight ammunition today. The interview, which spans fifty-five questions, will be broken up into three sections, each covering questions about different aspects of the program, to be published monthly once each in March, April, and May. This first installment deals primarily with the history of the LSAT and subsequent CTSAS programs, with a little bit of the ammunition technology thrown in.

One potential solution to the problem of a suitable anti-armor pistol and submachine gun round is to take the existing ammunition system and introduce one or more new kinds of ammunition which provide additional armor piercing capability through higher muzzle velocity and tougher core material. This is the route taken in Russia, where in the mid-1990s was introduced several loads for the Western 9x19mm caliber, as well as a new but fairly conventional round, the 9x21mm, also with optional AP load.

Quick: What’s the definition of “assault rifle”? I’ll give you a moment to think about it.

The rumor we reported on earlier appears to now be official: Immigration and Customs Enforcement has adopted the SIG P320C as their next service handgun. News of SIG’s win was confirmed by a post on pistol-forum.com containing a leaked screenshot of a new article on ICE’s internal website, with the headline ICE Picks a New Service Handgun.