They may as well call it the M9A3 Monkey Wrench.
Beretta USA has submitted an engineering change proposal for the M9 pistol contract in a move that could short circuit the Army's attempts to outfit soldiers with a brand new pistol.
The ECP comes within days of the expected release date of the Army's final request for proposal documents that outline the government's requirements to industry for its new Modular Handgun System. The Army has stated the final RFP would be posted in early January 2015. Drafts of the new contract call for as many as 750,000 new pistols in orders that would be split among the service branches. In an October 2014 press release the Army stated they plan to purchase 287,000 pistols while other military services may purchase as many as 212,000. In addition to pistols, the contract calls for magazines, holsters, spare parts, maintenance and testing equipment, suppressors, and training, placing the value of the contract anywhere from $650 million to more than $1 billion dollars depending on exercised options.
Beretta USA Vice President of Military Sales and Marketing Gebriele de Plano says the proposed M9A3 program would cost less than the current M9 and says they could implement the ECP on the remaining 80,000 pistols that are part of the government's existing 2012 order for 100,000 M9 pistols.
Aside from savings, there are other compelling reasons why the M9A3 could derail the Army's modular handgun program. Beretta says the M9A3 is compatible with current holsters and accessories, and soldiers will need little or no retraining to operate and maintain the pistol. Beretta says the pistols are similar enough that the major components of the M9 and M9A3 can be swapped with one another. This means current and future pistols can be maintained and upgraded with existing parts stockpiles and major components can be swapped in the field in an emergency.
The updated M9A3 configuration features a long list of improvements that address many gripes soldier's have voiced over the M9's nearly thirty years fielded as the Army's service pistol. The list of new features and improvements include a 1/2″- 28 TPI threaded barrel, Tritium night sights and a removable, dovetail front sight, a three-lug Picatinny accessory rail, a recontoured safety selector that is angled 10 degrees upward to avoid accidental engagement during slide racking, a smaller, a slimmer grip with aggressive front and backstrap checkering, an included wraparound grip cover that increases the grip size to that of the original M9, an oversized, reversible magazine release, a beveled magazine well, a sand-resistant 17-round magazine and an earth tone Cerakote finish.
Another major change is the addition of a new universal slide that accepts Beretta's 'G' decocker-only conversion kit. The big news is that the slide allows the standard safety to be swapped for the decocker at the unit armorer level.
Unchanged, however, is the open barrel design. de Plano says "the open slide, to Beretta, is actually an improvement that's very helpful in reliability. Both our internal testing and the Army testing have shown repeatedly that the open slide allows dirt that goes in to also easily come out." de Plano says Beretta has explored closed-slide designs but the change reduces reliability and increases weight.
Under the hood improvements include a third generation barrel and locking block with improved geometry that Beretta says will last more than 20,000 rounds. The double action/single action stays the same, but Beretta will offer a short travel trigger option with the A3 to accommodate smaller hands. The trigger remains a combat respectable 11 pounds, but Beretta will also offer an optional 9 pound reduced power 'D' hammer spring that may find limited use in the military. Though the lighter trigger may appeal to some, harder primers in military ammunition make it unlikely the 'D' hammer spring option would see wide fielding.
A polymer recoil spring guide rod, improved extractor pin and other improvements to small components round out the list of M9A3 upgrades.
While the M9A3 looks like the result of a massive internal R&D project to improve the M9, Beretta's Gabe Baily says that nearly all of the proposed changes collected in the M9A3 come from commercial variants of the M9.
One of the often repeated criticisms of the M9 platform relate to the pistol's original contract requirements. When the government issued the RFP for the original M9, it stated the pistol must withstand a 5,000 round firing schedule. Despite this number being the threshold for acceptable performance, the number became a source of criticism repeated by the pistol's detractors. The Army's own Continued Assurance Testing in 1996 showed 129 pistols pulled from service withstood an additional 30,000 round firing schedule before succumbing to material failure.
This is not the first time Beretta has sought to update the Army's pistol, however. The Marine Corps adopted the M9A1 in 2005 which added newer sights, improved grip, a Picatinny accessory rail, a beveled magazine well and sand-resistant magazines. de Plano says the company approached the Army in 2013 and 2014 with proposals during the Maneuver Conference and Ft. Benning where the brief submissions, called "quads," received little attention.
But, with the release of the MHS proposal drafts, the Army gave Beretta a roadmap that clearly states what soldiers want to see in their handguns. This knowledge, combined with 30 years of feedback from all branches of the military and Beretta's own research and development of the commercial variants of the M9 led to the changes seen in the M9A3.
Even with all of the M9A3 improvements, there's no denying the M9 is a 30-year-old design. There are newer pistols that offer lighter weight, reduced complexity, better ergonomics and baked-in modularity.
The Army's MHS program seeks to address lethality concerns with the existing pistol and its 9mm round, however. Should the Army ignore the M9A3 proposal, one reason may be because they are looking for a handgun system in a larger caliber. The Army's exploration of an alternate caliber has already become controversial. Moving away from the 9mm round would erase interoperability with NATO members. Depending on several factors, larger caliber rounds increase the weight of ammunition, reduce the amount of ammunition a pistol can carry, affect recoil and in some situations can increase wear on weapon systems.
Lastly, if the M9A3 fails to peak the interest of the Army, the proposal could find support in fiscally conservative members of Congress that may ask the Army to justify the cost of a new start pistol program compared to the price of upgrading an existing platform.
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