Newington, N.H. (November 2, 2018) – SIG SAUER, Inc. is pleased to announce the United States Coast Guard will acquire the SIG AIR Pro Force P229 airsoft pistol to be used for training with their Cadets and Guardsmen. The SIG AIR Pro Force line of products from SIG SAUER includes high-end airsoft pistols designed to be an exact replica in look, weight, balance, and handling characteristics to their traditional firearm counterpart.
“The SIG AIR Pro Force P229 airsoft pistol is engineered and manufactured to meet the SIG standards for precision, quality, accuracy, and reliability,” began Joe Huston, Vice President and General Manager, SIG AIR. “The SIG AIR Pro Force P229 airsoft pistol gives the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cadets and Guardsmen the ability to practice gun handling, conduct target practice in various environments, and train in realistic force on force scenarios with a pistol that has the same look and feel of their issued P229 sidearm.”
The SIG AIR Pro Force P229 is a full-size, metal frame airsoft pistol with a one piece molded ergonomic polymer grip and night sights. The pistol uses a semi-automatic firing mode with a gas blowback to replicate traditional firearm shots with a functional slide lock, and has a muzzle velocity of 280-340 ft/second and a range of 50-80 feet. The SIG AIR Pro Force P229 comes equipped with a SIG rail and one 25-round magazine.
“It’s an honor to build SIG SAUER products for use with our nation’s defense professionals and know they meet the highest standards for both quality and performance,” said Ron Cohen, President and CEO of SIG SAUER, Inc. “The M17 pistol has been adopted by every service branch, our TANGO6 riflescopes are being integrated into the weapons systems of our special forces and the U.S. Army, and now we can add the U.S. Coast Guard’s SIG AIR Pro Force P229 airsoft pistol to the wide range of SIG SAUER products in use with the men and women serving our country.”
The U.S. Coast Guard’s acquisition of the SIG AIR Pro Force P229 airsoft pistols was made through a small business set-aside awarded to Tidewater Tactical in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The SIG AIR Pro Force P229 airsoft pistol will be available commercially in 2019.
Seriously, no comments?
Waste. They should of piggy backed off of there Depolyable Specialized Forces units such as TACLETS and MSRTs, which use simunition rounds and frangible ammuntion for cqb and shipboard training. I understand cost but id rather train with the real gun and feel the felt recoil and go through motions of failure drills. FLETC Charleston also provides shipboard training with Simmunition rounds. A better trained force is key to a better force altogether, not cheap alternatives.
These aren’t planned to replace SIMs. They’re set to be the 4th phase of the pistol qual.
While SIMs are ideal, there are lots of places that aren’t set up for SIMs and can’t deal logistically with them. We can do airsoft in our office at Sector, we unfortunately can’t shoot up the conference room with SIMs, and I’m not sure there’s anywhere reasonably close we could do SIMs.
There’s nothing saying we can’t do SIMs as well, but no matter how much we’ve tried to get SIM equipment and ammo here there have been a lot of pushback based on logistics and training quals.