The Joint Combat Pistol was the name for a former US program for a new military sidearm to replace the M9 Pistol, extant from late 2005 to early 2006. The program was started in 2005 and run by USSOCOM. It was the result of a merger of two earlier programs, the army's Future Handgun System (FHS) and the Special Operations Forces Combat Pistol. Requirements for the JCP included being chambered for caliber .45 ACP, having an integrated Picatinny rail, including day/night sights, and being capable of accepting a suppressor.
On March 10, 2006, a modification to the earlier request was made, changing the name from Joint Combat Pistol to Combat Pistol. The number of pistols sought was reduced from 645,000 handguns to 50,000. This effectively reverted to the SOF Combat Pistol program in terms of its scale, as the army dropped its participation.[1] In the autumn of 2006, the Combat Pistol (CP) program was suspended indefinitely.[1]
In a 2007 supplemental session, the congressional defense sub-committee appropriated $5 million to a Joint Combat Pistol study.[2]
Background
A cross-service US military sidearm is a notable event in that there have been only two major adoption programs over a 100-year span of military history. While new sidearms were adopted at a fairly steady pace in the late 19th century, the 20th century yielded only the M1911 (the result of a 1900 program) and the M9 (the result of a 1980s program, the Joint Service Small Arms Program). The previous adoption took over a decade, involved several acts of Congress and multiple lawsuits, and stirred up great controversy. The short-lived JCP program was not an exception, only surviving a few months before being drastically scaled back and renamed. Its successor, the Combat Pistol program fared even worse, being halted just a few months later.
Overview of 2005 JCP solicitation
This was based on original solicitation, which was later modified, and finally, heavily changed in March 2006, with the program renamed to Combat Pistol.[citation needed]
The notice starts: The USSOCOM intends to issue a solicitation to obtain commercially available non-developmental item (NDI) Joint Combat Pistol (JCP) system, Caliber .45 (ACP). [citation needed]
Two configurations required: One with no external safety and the other configuration will have an external safety.
The 'Combat Pistol System' is to consist of:
a Caliber .45 pistol (designed for A475 and AA18 rounds)
Magazines (standard and high-capacity);
Suppressor Attachment Kit
Holster
Magazine Holder (standard and high-capacity)
Cleaning Kit and Operator's Manual.
Estimates for max procurement quantities for the system are listed as
45,000 no external safety
600,000 JCP with the external safety configuration
649,000 Holsters
96,050 Standard Capacity Magazines
192,099 High Capacity Magazines
667,000 Magazine Holders
132,037 Suppressor attachment kits
While this is the max procurement, in comparison the initial order for M9 pistols was for 300,000 pistols (followed by more later).
Timeline
A Q&A listed the following projected dates:
Final RFP Release: Projected in January 2006
Proposal Response Deadline: Projected in March 2006
Expected Contract Award Date: Projected in 4Q FY06.
Projected First Delivery Order date and Quantities: The government will issue the first delivery order at time of award of the basic contract. Currently IDIQ minimum quantity is 12 each JCPs without external manual safety which will be awarded as the initial Delivery Order.
JCP and CP candidates
A large variety of .45 ACP pistols were entered into the competition. These include the:
The Colt M1911 is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original model adopted in March 1911, and Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the improved M1911A1 model which entered service in 1926. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam War era.
A semi-automatic pistol is a handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired. Only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled, as the pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset.
The .45 ACP, also known as .45 Auto, .45 Automatic, or 11.43×23mm is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it was adopted as the standard chambering for Colt's M1911 pistol. The round was developed due to a lack of stopping power experienced in the Moro Rebellion in places like Sulu. The issued ammunition, .38 Long Colt, had proved inadequate, motivating the search for a better cartridge. This experience and the Thompson–LaGarde Tests of 1904 led the Army and the Cavalry to decide that a minimum of .45 caliber was required in a new handgun cartridge.
The Heckler & Koch MK 23, MK 23 MOD 0, Mark 23, or USSOCOM MARK 23 is a semi-automatic large-frame pistol chambered in .45 ACP, designed specifically to be an offensive pistol. The USSOCOM version of the MK23 came paired with a laser aiming module (LAM) and suppressor. The USSOCOM MK23 was adopted by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for special operations units, beating out the nearest competitor, Colt's OHWS. Development of the pistol began in 1991 as special operations representatives identified the need for an "Offensive Handgun Weapons System—Special Operations Peculiar", and delivery of the pistols began in May 1996 to the special operation units.
The SIG Sauer P220 is a semi-automatic pistol designed in 1975 by the SIG Arms AG division of Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft, and produced by J. P. Sauer & Sohn, in Eckernförde. It is currently manufactured by both SIG Sauer companies: SIG Sauer GMBH, of Eckernförde, Germany; and SIG Sauer, Inc., of New Hampshire, United States.
The USP is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns.
The Beretta M9, officially the Pistol, Semiautomatic, 9mm, M9, is the designation for the Beretta 92FS semi-automatic pistol used by the United States Armed Forces. The M9 was adopted by the United States military as their service pistol in 1985.
In American English, a pocket pistol is any small, pocket-sized semi-automatic pistol, and is suitable for concealed carry in a pocket or a similar small space.
The Joint Service Small Arms Program, abbreviated JSSAP, was created to coordinate weapon standardization between the various United States armed service branches.
The MEU(SOC) pistol, officially designated the M45 MEUSOC, is a magazine-fed, recoil-operated, single-action, semiautomatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. It is a variant of the M1911 for use by the Force Recon Element of the United States Marine Corps' Marine Expeditionary Units from 1985 until 2022. It is assigned NATO Stock Number 1005-01-370-7353.
The Heckler & Koch HK45 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by the German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch.
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun which needs to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns are single-shot pistols, the two most common types of handguns used in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other handguns such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.
SIG Sauer of Newington, NH United States manufactures a full line of 1911 styled handguns. The earliest models were very faithful to the John M. Browning designed Colt M1911 Pistol which became the United States standard sidearm and served in that capacity for some seven decades before being replaced by the Beretta M9 handgun.
The Tanfoglio Combat or Standard, also known as T(A)95 or EAA Witness Steel, is a modified clone of the Czech CZ-75/CZ-85 pistol. It is made in Gardone Val Trompia near Brescia, Italy by Fratelli Tanfoglio S.N.C.
The Springfield Armory XD is a series of semi-automatic pistols produced by Springfield Armory, Inc., in the United States along with follow-on variants: XD-M, XD-S, and XD-E. Polymer-framed and predominantly striker-fired, the series is manufactured by HS Produkt in Karlovac, Croatia.
The XM17 Modular Handgun System (MHS) competition was a United States Army and United States Air Force competition for a new service pistol. The Modular Handgun System was solicited by a Request for Proposals in September 2015 and is anticipated to be the next U.S. military standard side arm replacing the Beretta M9 and the SIG Sauer M11. The U.S. Marine Corps also participated in the program to have input on source selection, but likely will not order the resulting weapon until their current pistols' life-cycles end in the mid-2020s.
The FN FNX pistol is a series of semi-automatic, polymer-framed pistols manufactured in Columbia, South Carolina, by FN America, a division of Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal. The pistol is chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP cartridges. It was introduced in 2009 as the successor to the FN FNP.
The SIG Sauer P320 is a modular semi-automatic pistol made by SIG Sauer, Inc., SIG Sauer's American branch. It is a further development of the SIG Sauer P250, utilizing a striker-fired mechanism in lieu of a double action only hammer system. The P320 can be chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum, .357 SIG, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and 10mm Auto and can be easily converted from one caliber to another; a change from .357 SIG to .40 S&W requires only a barrel change; a change from 9mm to .357 SIG or .40 S&W is accomplished using a caliber exchange kit.
The SIG Sauer M17 and M18 are service pistols derived from the SIG Sauer P320 in use with the United States Armed Forces. On January 19, 2017, the United States Army announced that a customized version of SIG Sauer's P320 had won the Army's XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. The full-sized model was designated the M17, and the shorter length carry model, the M18. The guns have subsequently been adopted by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force. The Coast Guard is the only military branch that will not be receiving the M17 and M18, they will be replacing their SIG Sauer P229R DAK with the Glock 19 Gen5 MOS. The M17 and M18 will be replacing the Beretta M9, as well as several other handguns across five of the six service branches. There are two color variants, coyote brown and black, for both the M17 and M18, though almost all have been produced in coyote brown.
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