As we recently saw, Sig Sauer was awarded the contract to provide the Next Generation Squad Weapon and corresponding ammunition for the U.S. Army. But this is far from the first contract that Sig has secured in either the military or law enforcement space. 
 

A Brief History of Winning Contracts

Sig’s first awarded contract dates all the way back to 1864 when the company was actually known as the Swiss Wagon Factory, then later, Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (Swiss Industrial Company), or SIG. The order was from the Swiss Ministry of Defense for 30,000 muzzleloaders. Those rifles became known as the M1863. With early success stemming from the M1863, Sig continued to expand its offerings to include pistols. 

In 1948, the Swiss army adopted Sig’s P210 as its new service pistol. It wasn’t until the 1980s that Sig began importing into and manufacturing firearms in the United States. Fast forward to the present day, and you’ll see that Sig is heavily integrated within the military, government, and law enforcement sectors.

In 2017, Sig was awarded the contract to replace the U.S. Army’s aging Beretta M9 with the M17 and M18 modular pistols, which were basically the military versions of the popular Sig P320. The pistols were then adopted by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. 

Then, in early 2020, the Department of Homeland Security announced it awarded a contract for Sig to supply ammunition to its training centers to the tune of $7.5 million. Just recently, Sig was awarded another military contract, which is meant to replace the aging M4 and M249. At this point, you can safely say that Sig knows how to bid and win contracts. 

Listing every contract that Sig has secured over the years would be quite the task. With that being said, I included the few larger contracts mentioned above to highlight why Sig has been dominating military, law enforcement, and government contracts. 
 

P320 PISTOLS

In 2014, the P320 took the market by storm and hasn’t slowed down since. The extremely modular pistol allows the user to swap out various grips and slides to best accommodate the task at hand. The M17 and M18 were the variants tested and chosen by the military. The M17 is essentially the full-size version, and the M18 is a more compact variation. Both, however, provide shooters with a 17-round flush magazine and a 21-round extended magazine. In addition to the great capacity, there’s also an optics-ready slide and ambidextrous manual safety. 
 

RELATED: A Complete Look at the Famous Sig Sauer P320 Lineup

XM5 & XM250
 

The XM5 is said to provide more power, distance, and accuracy than the current M4 platform that it’s replacing for military service. It is chambered in Sig’s new 6.8x51 hybrid ammunition. Some of its standard features include non-reciprocating side and rear charging handles, fully ambidextrous controls, two-position adjustable gas piston, quick-detach suppressor, and a collapsible and folding stock.
 

The XM250 will replace the current M249 and shares many of the same features as the XM5, such as fully ambidextrous controls and the new 6.8x51 chambering. The XM250 will give soldiers a 40 percent lighter platform than the current M249 and provides double the effective range.

I’ll be patiently waiting for my chance to shoot a consumer version of both, but until then, I’m glad that our soldiers will be getting outfitted with what sounds like great improvements over the M4 and M249.
 

RELATED: More on the Army's New XM5, XM250 Next Gen Weapons
 

Law Enforcement
 

Sig is also heavily involved in the law enforcement sector. Sig has stated that roughly a third of law enforcement uses its firearms. The Delaware State Police, Nevada Highway Patrol, and Milwaukee Police Department are some of the more recent agencies to adopt the P320 as their official duty pistol. 

Simply providing the physical firearms for police is not all that Sig does either. Sig Sauer Academy is a highly respected and rated firearms training program that offers a wide array of courses ranging from executive protection and close-quarters combat to basic beginner courses for law enforcement and civilians alike. The American Police Hall of Fame Shooting Center in Titusville, Florida, even started offering Sig Sauer Academy courses in 2021, which illustrates the high quality of the training.
 

Final Thoughts

Military and law enforcement personnel deserve to have the best tools to defend themselves and others. To ensure that they do, the testing that guns must go through before they get adopted for use is extremely rigorous and thorough. The fact that Sig continues to win contract after contract speaks volumes. 

I cannot wait to see the updates and feedback on these new guns and what else Sig has in store for us in the future. Regardless, it’s clear that the company’s approach is a broad one that lends itself to scoring contract victories.