Army Chief Wants Power to Select New Pistol

NorwichDad

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My son told me he is hoping they decide to bring back the 1911. It is the best sidearm in his opinion.

Speaking at the Future of War Conference 2016, Gen. Mark Milley said he has asked Congress to grant service chiefs the authority to bypass the Pentagon's multi-layered and complex acquisition process on programs that do not require research and development. "We are not exactly redesigning how to go to the moon, right?" Milley said. "This is a pistol. ... And arguably, it is the least lethal and important weapon system in the Department of Defense inventory."

"We are not figuring out the next lunar landing," Milley said. "This is a pistol.

"There is a certain degree of common sense to this stuff and that is what I am talking about. ... Empower the service chiefs with the capability to go out and do certain things. Speed the process up."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/10/army-chief-wants-power-to-select-new-pistol.html
 
Acquisitions certainly needs reforms. That is for sure.

As much as I love the 1911, it is not the best service pistol out there. The service life of components and capacity just isn't there, when compared to more modern designs. It is still extremely accurate and has one of (if not the) best triggers of any pistol. That is why double-stack "2011s" dominate a lot of the competitive shooting world.
 
Acquisitions certainly needs reforms. That is for sure.

Or better execution of the process. General Miley is being little bit disingenuous. Not all DoD acquisition has to go through Joint Acquisition process. I don't think F35 or nuclear submarine goes through a Joint Acquisition Process. There is a process to determine if a acquisition requirement is joint or service specific. The Army contributed the delay, from the article

"In a break from tradition, the Army is also requiring competing firms to prove that they are capable of delivering millions of rounds of pistol ammunition per month in addition to delivering thousands of new handguns per month, according to the request."

The Army's draft solicitation cited a new Defense Department policy that allows for the use of "special purpose ammunition."

General Miley was quoted ""I'm saying let me and then hold me accountable." So, if General Miley decides to purchase 1911 .45 and later on it becomes a mistake (i.e. increase ammunition cost, .45 is about 40 to 50 cents per round vs 9 mm being 20 to 30 cents per round, quicker replacement, limited magazine (8 rounds vs 15 rounds), HK USP .45 holds 12 + 1, and so on), I don't think we can as General Miley to pay the difference. Suppose he can resign or get fired, but so what.
 
"This is a pistol. ... And arguably, it is the least lethal and important weapon system in the Department of Defense inventory."
I have to respectfully disagree with this statement.

Think about it, why do you carry both a rifle AND a pistol? When that rifle goes down, you rely on that pistol to save your life. So for him to say that the pistol is the least important weapon system .....

Regardless of what we go to, if/when that happens, it will just be the same thing all over again. Yeah lets get a Glock - great pistol. 10, 20, 30 years down the road, when parts aren't regularly being replaced, of course they will suck. That's just what happens when you try to milk products long past their expiration date.
 
Yep, units that are willing to put in the maintenance and train their people to high levels of pistol competency still have a use the the 1911.
 
This is an older (2014) but pretty interesting article on the military history of the beloved M1911 Colt.
John Browning, was quite literally, the man. A firearms genius, which future generations will probably be hard pressed to surpass.

On a somewhat related note, thanks to the passing of the NDAA last year - it is very likely/possible that we will eventually see bunch of GI M1911's hitting the civilian market via the CMP. In case anyone was interested.
 
There's nothing actually wrong with the Beretta for the vast majority of the services. It's a fine weapon for what we ask of it. The real problem is that 99.99% of the services suck ass at pistol marksmanship. That ain't the iron's fault.
 
There's nothing actually wrong with the Beretta for the vast majority of the services. It's a fine weapon for what we ask of it. The real problem is that 99.99% of the services suck *** at pistol marksmanship. That ain't the iron's fault.
I have a couple ergonomic beefs with the M9, but overall it's decent. (A high-mounted slide safety that goes up to "fire?" Who thought that was a good idea?...and it's fat for a 15rd 9x19 pistol.)
Your point about training is SPOT ON.
 
There's nothing actually wrong with the Beretta for the vast majority of the services. It's a fine weapon for what we ask of it. The real problem is that 99.99% of the services suck *** at pistol marksmanship. That ain't the iron's fault.
Yep, I concur. From what I've been able to gather, from the Army side of house at least, pistol marksmanship is more of an after thought - in comparison with rifle marksmanship.

... that, and parts almost never being replaced.
 
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