U.S. Army Saying "Ciao" to Italy's M9 Beretta -- but What Will Replace It?

www.nasdaq.com ^ | 8-2-14 | Motley Fool

[AlmaKing]

Dumping Beretta

Last month, the Army announced plans for an "industry day" at which gun manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson , Sturm, Ruger , Colt, and Glock would be invited to show their wares and compete for a new contract. Its objective: to replace the M9 Beretta semiautomatic pistol.

The U.S. Army holds more than 200,000 M9 Berettas in its inventory. If it proceeds with plans to use a new handgun, tentatively monikered the "Modular Handgun System," all of these M9s could soon be replaced. In fact, Military.com reported that if other armed services follow the Army's lead, one lucky gun company could soon receive an order for as many as 400,000 handguns -- a significant contract in an era of declining civilian handgun sales .

According to Military.com , the Army's main concerns with the M9 are that it's insufficiently accurate, lethal, and reliable for the service's purposes. That's not entirely Beretta's fault. Project officer Daryl Easlick at the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, was quoted in the Military.com article as saying that many of the Berettas it has in inventory today are "old," adding that "it's costing us more to replace and repair M9s than it would cost to go get a new handgun."

Some critics cite a lack of killing power in the M9. Simply put, the 9mm full-metal jacket round fired from a Beretta M9 isn't big enough to stop and drop every opponent a soldier encounters. This raises the odds of the Army's next standard-issue handgun being a .45 caliber weapon such as the M1911, which Beretta's M9 replaced in Army service in 1985. Lots of companies make .45 caliber weapons that the military could consider and companies might be submitting news designs for the Modular Handgun System.

[Pontiac]

More likely find their way into Mexico.

Well I suppose they could be sold to an Obama crony at scrap metal prices but somehow the crushing wasn’t done by some fowl up of a clerical error and then the scrapped pistols were resold as scrap to a Mexican salvage company that is a front company for a Mexican drug cartel.

[Joe 6-pack]

Now you're thinking like a bureaucrat!

[Pontiac]

What a terrible thing to say

I thought we were buds.

Just because I understand how they think doesn’t mean I think that way.

;)