As long as you are in the U.S. and eligible to own one, you may have the chance to own the M17 pistol, the newest handgun of the U.S. Army. It is based on the SIG Sauer P320 modified to meet the requirements of the Modular Handgun System program. The M17 and its more compact variant, the M18 are now being delivered with the 101st Airborne being the first unit to receive the pistols.

According to Military.com’s Kit Up!Blog, Sig Sauer isplanning a special release to the civilian commercial market:

“We are planning to do a limited release of about 5,000 of the Army variant of the M17 for the commercial market,” Tom Taylor, Sig Sauer’s chief marketing officer and executive vice president for commercial sales, told Military.com. “The timing is not finalized yet, but it looks to be late spring.”

Each commercial MHS will be serialized and have serialized matching coin as well as a letter of authenticity from the CEO of Sig Sauer, Taylor said.

Sig Sauer would likely be able to sell more than 5,000 of these pistols, but Taylor said, “we just wanted to make it really special. … And once they are out there, the owners will be privileged to own the actual gun.”

The commercial version will be almost identical to the Army-issue, full-size MHS, except it will not have the anti-tamper mechanism for the striker action, nor will it have the special coatings on some of the internal parts that help it maintain lubricity under harsh conditions, Taylor said.

There is no information on how the allocation of the planned 5,000 units. We’re pretty that there will be a good demand for it and will be snapped up in no time. Sig Sauer might take pre-orders for it to anticipate the demand or to assure itself that sales will be solid as planned.

Now, we just hope Cybergun is working on having an airsoft version of the M17 and M18 ready too. With their case settled with Sig Sauer and that they can continue producing fully licensed Sig Sauer airsoft guns, the opportunity of releasing an airsoft M17 and M18 can prove to be irresistible.