First new M17 9mm pistol will be delivered to US 101st Airborne Division

According a news release on the official website of USA army, October 2, 2017, the first 2,000 new M17 9mm semi-automatic pistols will be delivered to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The "Screaming Eagles" will be the first in a long line of units to receive the new 9mm pistol, which is meant as a replacement for the existing M9, which is quickly approaching the end of its useful service life.

M17 Sig Sauer new 9mm semi-automatic pistol for U.S. army

All three units will have the new M17 handgun issued to them by the end of the year, said Brig. Gen. Brian Cummings, who serves as Program Executive Officer Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

While the XM17 pistol is manufactured by Sig Sauer and is based on Sig Sauer's existing P320 pistol, Cummings brushed off comparisons between the two weapons.

The M17, which is a full-sized version of the pistol, and the M18, which is a compact version, include different safety features than the P320 pistol, as well as different requirements for accuracy and reliability.

In January 2017, The Swiss based Company Sig Sauer Inc., Newington, New Hampshire, was awarded a $580,217,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the XM17 Modular Handgun System a variant of the Sig Sauer P320 9x19 Parabellum including handgun, accessories and ammunition to replace the current U.S. Army Beretta M9.

The XM17 draft request for proposals was launched in June 2015, to offer a new pistol more effective and lethal than the U.S. Army’s current pistol. The plans call for the U.S. Army to purchase more than 280,000 handguns from a single vendor, with full rate production scheduled for 2018. The Army also plans to buy approximately 7,000 compact versions of the handgun. The other military services participating in the XM17 program may order an additional 212,000 systems.

M18 Sig Sauer new 9mm semi-automatic pistol for U.S. army