Quote: “Springfield Armory makes a fine selection of well-made and well-received handguns. Are they not considering this company?”
Could not agree more but I believe I read somewhere that they did not enter the competition. Entering was not by invite only. The Army would look at anyone who entered.
Answering some questions from the thread from what I’ve learned:
The features the US Army wants is an accessory rail, support for a suppressor mount (e.g. threaded barrel), an ergonomic grip customizable to fit individual soldiers’ handspan, the presence of a safety selector, and a design that prevents dirt and debris from entering the frame and magazine. They’re accepting candidate pistols in 9mm Luger and .40 S&W.
Glock, SIG-Sauer, Hk, Beretta, Walther, etc. all have versions of their handguns that offer all the features above, more or less. The US Army seems to not want any solution from Beretta if it is a design based upon the M9. Springfield Armory does/did have a candidate pistol in the MHS selection competition. It’s an XD model that has a grip safety but I don’t think the US Army has any inclination to select a Croatian-made pistol anyway.
My suspicion is that the Chief of the US Army is going to cancel the MHS selection program (again) and tell the US Army to just buy the Glock 19 with the addition of Glock’s wonky safety selector they’ve offered in the past to nations who demanded that feature.