Almost three weeks after the official UK MoD announcement of the adoption of the G17 as their new sidearm, GLOCK makes a similar announcement.
Today GLOCK, Inc. announced its contract award by the United Kingdom Armed Forces, to use the GLOCK 17 Gen4 pistol for its personnel. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) chose GLOCK to deliver 25,000 pistols by the end of March 2013. Troops deployed to Afghanistan will be among the first to use the new weapon.
Warrant Officer Class 1 Mark Anderson, Royal Marines, who conducted a trial of the new weapon before the contract was awarded, enthused, “Pistols are vital in close combat and are a key part of a soldier’s armory. Reliable, light and easy to carry, the GLOCK inspires confidence and performs exceptionally well.”
“After extensive and intense tests and evaluations, GLOCK is pleased to be selected by the MOD,” stated Josh Dorsey, GLOCK Vice President. “The deciding factors were the GLOCK’s higher magazine capacity, the superior accuracy, the ease of use and maintenance and the reliability. The GLOCK SAFE Action System also enables the pistol to spring into action faster.”
The selection process for replacing the Ministry’s previous guns was stringent. The trials for eight of the leading pistol manufacturers in 2011 consisted of a human factors integration test, nine months of scientific evaluation and a coinciding nine months of environmental trials under different climatic conditions. Ultimately, GLOCK proved the best fit for the MOD, and contracts were signed in 2012.
