French army to purchase 75,000 semi-automatic pistols, 51 million cartridges.

On 2 March, the French ministry of Defense, via the DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement, General Directorate for Armament), has launched a purchase procedure for the supply of 9 x 19 mm semi-automatic pistols, support systems and associated cartridges. The new pistols – designated either PSA (pistolet semi-automatique) or PANG (Pistolet Automatique de Nouvelle Génération) will replace the ones currently in use, some of them dating back to the 1950s like the MAC 50.

On Wednesday, May 20, 2015, the 13th Engineer's (13th RG) Cynotechnic Section conducted its first automatic pistol fire with its dogs (Picture source: French Army)

The market is impressive: the need is for the following forecast quantities, indicative only,
- 75,000 pistols in 9 mm caliber with their cases and associated fixing systems,
- 7,000 sound reduction kits (silencers),
- 15,000 day and infra-red night vision systems (lighting and laser designation) and their gun cases,
- 25,000 anti-crush suitcases,
- 9,000 training guns,
- 800 tools of laser tuning ("simbleautage"),
- 45,000,000 standard 9mm x 19mm NATO cartridges,
- 2,000,000 subsonic 9 x 19 mm cartridges,
- 4,000,000 marking/tracer 9 x 19 mm cartridges.

The quantities associated with the other services (equipment, maintenance means, spare parts, training and training means, training and technical documentation, documentary elements) will be specified in the documents of the consultation. Among the expected competitors, let’s mention FN Herstal, SIG Sauer, Heckler & Koch, and Glock, whose model 17 model is already in service in several French military and security units.