Canadian troopers — and ultimately sailors, aircrew and navy police — can be getting new pistols to switch their Second World Struggle-era handguns, the Division of Nationwide Defence (DND) stated Friday.
And federal procurement officers have chosen the SIG Sauer P320. The firearm has been the topic of a number of lawsuits in the USA and an inside investigation by the Canadian Special Forces — an investigation that was launched after a soldier was wounded in a misfire incident in November 2020.
The $3.2 million US contract for brand spanking new pistols and holsters was awarded to M.D. Charlton Co. Ltd. of Victoria, B.C., the licensed distributor of the weapon in Canada.
The preliminary contract includes the acquisition of seven,000 pistols with an choice to buy as much as 9,500 extra. The pistols are being given a Canadian designation of C22.
If the total contact is exercised, the price of the deal — with coaching and spares — may exceed $7.6 million.
The brand new handgun replaces the Browning Hello-Energy semi-automatic pistol. Supply of the brand new weapons is predicted to start subsequent yr.
The DND assertion saying the acquisition cited the truth that the “Sig Sauer P320 is in use with a number of militaries world wide, together with Denmark, France and the USA.”
Final yr, Canadian Special Forces and DND performed an investigation right into a misfire incident involving the P320 and Canada’s elite commandos throughout vary coaching.
The soldier, belonging to Joint Activity Pressure 2 (JTF-2), was hit within the leg and suffered a flesh wound within the accident, which befell on Nov. 5, 2020 on a firing vary at Dwyer Hill exterior Ottawa, the unit’s principal base.
CBC News reported on the accident in an unique story in February 2021.
The particular forces had simply began utilizing the pistol when the incident occurred. The weapon was withdrawn briefly from service, however was reinstated earlier this yr after an investigation cleared the pistol to be used.
On the time of the preliminary CBC News report, the weapon’s American producer claimed the particular forces soldier wounded within the unintentional discharge was utilizing the incorrect holster.
Preliminary complaints from some customers of the SIG P320, which has been manufactured since 2014, concerned claims that the weapon went off with out the set off being pulled.
SIG Sauer, a German weapons maker with a U.S. headquarters in Newington, N.H., upgraded the weapon in 2017. That didn’t cease a collection of lawsuits — most of them launched by injured U.S. legislation enforcement members. A few of these lawsuits are ongoing.
The corporate settled a category motion lawsuit in 2020 associated to weapons that had not been upgraded. In court docket papers filed in relation to the settlement, SIG Sauer maintained that the P320 is secure and pointed to its free voluntary modifications, which swap out sure parts of the gun.
Final month, a U.S. federal district court docket decide in New Hampshire rejected one other proposed class motion lawsuit filed by an Arizona gun proprietor who argued that his pistol misplaced worth because of the alleged design flaw involving the weapon’s set off.
