Army moves forward with Modular Handgun System
The US Department of Defense (DoD) will downselect a total of three preferred bidders in the third quarter of 2016 as its Modular Handgun System (MHS) programme continues on course despite recent calls to replace the effort with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution.
In April, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley suggested procuring 9×19 mm Glock 19 handguns to replace legacy Beretta M9 handguns instead of a more complicated modified solution in line with the MHS original solicitation. The total programme could comprise a requirement for up to 500,000 weapon systems destined to equip army, navy, and air force personnel as well as the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
As to which guns are possibilities:
Entrants are understood to include Beretta’s APX, Cesk zbrojovka’s CZ P-09, FN Herstal’s Five-Seven Mk 2, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) and Smith & Wesson’s M&P polymer handgun; the Glock 17 and 22; and Sig Sauer’s P320. However, sources informed IHS Jane’s that the DoD had yet to make a final decision regarding calibre of the MHS, although 9×19 mm and .40 calibre appear to be favourites at the moment.
.40s and the FiveSeven in that list. Thought they would stick with El Nino.
June 4th, 2016 at 4:53 pm
To understand the MHS you need to understand the point of the whole thing. Modularization of the .mil is an important cost saving over time effort that also intends to provide interoperability between services. There is a lot of blow back about the MHS specifically and as a vet I don’t disagree with much of it. interoperability wins wars in the long run but a handgun is a handgun for crying out loud it’s not the entire array of marine amphibious assault equipment being interoperable with the army once ashore. Boy oh boy, when pentagon gets a long range goal in it’s planning it’s very hard to say STOP, we’re done.
A secondary benefit of interoperability is between units. When transferred the service member already knows all the equipment and tools and they are trained on them already.
Just buy the best gun, off the shelf and be done. Point and pull (push if you prefer) the trigger, right?
June 4th, 2016 at 5:15 pm
I thought MHS is supposed to be caliber non-specific. Specs call for drop in slide, barrel configs in several calibers.
June 4th, 2016 at 7:44 pm
Way too much time and money already wasted on trying to pick out a handgun…and they’re not *nearly* finished.
Reminds of my wife trying to get dressed to go out.
June 4th, 2016 at 9:31 pm
Whatever they pick, I hope this means abundant, cheap surplus M9s on the market soon. I’d like to buy moar…..
June 5th, 2016 at 9:53 am
The FiveSeven would be interesting if and only if the PS-90also is used as a carbine for support troops.
Otherwise, handgun should be allowed to use modern bullets. Rewrite the Hague Convention or whatever silly laws require non-expanding bullets.
June 5th, 2016 at 2:09 pm
Hey… What about Ruger. I thought the new Ruger American was built to satisfy the specs. Guess buying from an American company that builds stuff here just doesn’t cut it.
June 5th, 2016 at 5:00 pm
*sigh* Silly procurement officers.
Off to clean my .30 caliber rifles, .45 caliber pistols (and revolvers) and mutter about Hell, Hand-baskets, and damn kids on my lawn.
Now where did I leave that bottle of Scotch?
June 6th, 2016 at 8:31 am
The FiveSeven would probably win if armor penetration was an evaluation element. Instead they will spend a lot of taxpayer money to pick out the best paper-weight.
June 6th, 2016 at 9:15 am
“Hey… What about Ruger. I thought the new Ruger American was built to satisfy the specs. Guess buying from an American company that builds stuff here just doesn’t cut it.”
SIG builds stuff in America, Beretta does, S&W, Springfield, etc. The “buy American” thing doesn’t work when that is the case.
Also, a few years back, a bunch of us toured Ruger’s manufacturing plant and were a little taken aback by their QC and manufacturing standards. We had serious reservations about their ability to scale up production while still maintaining their QC.
Anyways, they decided to sit this one out. To be honest, it’s a risky bid for all entrants, which is why even one of the big guns (S&W) paired with a DoD Contractor to throw their hat into the ring.
June 6th, 2016 at 11:05 pm
Please pick .40 or 5.7! The internet would implode and I would laugh.
June 10th, 2016 at 9:31 am
I think they should be considering a revolver.