SIG Sauer M18 American 9mm Semi-Automatic Pistol

The SIG Sauer M17 and M18 are handguns used by the United States Armed Forces. On January 19, 2017, the United States Army announced that a customized version of the SIG Sauer P320 had won the Army's XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. The full-sized model will be known as the M17 and the smaller-sized carry model will be known as the M18. When the requirements were formulated for a new handgun for the U.S. Army, one of the tenets of the proposal was that an existing model handgun was desired to fulfill the requirements laid out in the Modular Handgun System Request for Proposal, known as the XM17 Procurement. SIG Sauer submitted a P320 with a number of modifications and submitted them for the XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. SIG Sauer wins the award On January 19, 2017, the United States Army announced that the SIG Sauer P320 MHS variant had won the military's Modular Handgun System trials. The P320 is known as the M17 (Full-Size) and M18 (Carry) in U.S. Military service. Though the pistol will remain chambered in 9 x 19mm Parabellum rather than a larger caliber, the contract allows the Army and other services to procure SIG Sauer’s proposed XM1152 Full Metal Jacket and XM1153 Special Purpose ammunition. The ammunition chosen to go with the pistol is a "Winchester jacketed hollow point" round; similar in appearance to the Winchester PDX1 round but with some differences to the design of the hollow point petals. The M17 has better accuracy and ergonomics and tighter dispersion than the M9 and will be fielded more widely, being issued down to squad and fireteam leaders. Special forces dual-arm all of its members with a pistol and rifle. Junior leaders in regular infantry units who were previously excluded from carrying sidearms will be given more choices and options in close quarters battle situations under a new policy. All Army units are planned to have the M9 replaced with the M17 within a decade. U.S. military services adopt the M17 and M18 In May 2017, the Army announced that the first unit that will receive the M17 would be the 101st Airborne Division by the end of the year. At the same time, the rest of the U.S. Armed Forces revealed they also intend to acquire the handgun, making it the standard sidearm for the entire U.S. military. The services plan to procure up to 421,000 weapons in total; 195,000 for the Army, 130,000 for the Air Force, 61,000 for the Navy (M18 compact version only), and 35,000 for the Marines. The United States Marine Corps is replacing its M9, M9A1, M45A1, and M007 handguns with the SIG Sauer M18 handguns. The M9 and M9A1 were produced by Beretta while the M45A1 was made by Colt and the M007, which was only recently accepted as a variant, is made by Glock. Although it has been announced that the US Coast Guard is also adopting the M17/18 handgun there are no purchase numbers as yet.