We have been expecting this to happen, it was just a matter of when. Now news in the last week of March 2018 report that the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy have finally adopted the M18 pistol after the U.S. Army has chosen as their new sidearm to be the M17 and M18 pistols to replace the M9 pistol. The M17 and the more compact M18 are based on the SIG P320 pistol, which won the Modular Handgun System (MHS) competition.

In a report in Military.com’s Kit-Up blog, the U.S. Air Force will be ordering 130,000 of the M18 while the U.S. Navy are planning on fielding 60,000 pistols. The U.S. Marine Corps has already gone ahead of adopting the smaller M18 announcing that they will be getting the pistol in 2019, weeks before the two branches announced their plans. This makes the MHS the official sidearm of the whole U.S. Military, save for some special operations units that use their own sidearms that meet their mission specifications. According to Sig Sauer, the Coast Guard will also be adopting the MHS.

Sig Sauer won the MHS competition last year, being awarded by the U.S. Army to a contract worth US$580 million. It beat competitors from reputable gun manufacturers such as FN America, Beretta and Glock. The U.S. Army wants to order 195,000 MHS mainly comprised of the M17.

While the MHS is based on the Sig P320 pisto, it is still different from the civilian version or what the LEOs have ordered. The MHS has been customized the meet the specifications of the U.S. Army’s program. It is a striker fired pistol that can be equipped with suppressors and will have extended capacity magazines. It also has an under rail to fit a laser or a weaponlight.

The U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division is the first unit to receive the M17 and M18 pistols.