Switzerland moved to adopt a domestically produced version of the SIG Sauer P320 as its new military sidearm last week. The change places the Swiss military in the company of the United States, Canada, Australia, and Denmark, all full-scale adopters of the SIG P320 platform for their armed forces.

Procurement of a new service pistol fell under the Swiss military’s Project 9mm Pistol CH A NG (Swiss Armed Forces New Generation), which was tasked with finding a modern replacement for Switzerland’s aging Pistol 75 (i.e., the P220), another SIG Sauer design adopted in 1975.

Armasuisse, the Swiss Federal Office for Defense Procurement, invited various bidders to compete for its new handgun of choice. In the end, it assessed five candidates and narrowed them down to three options: the Glock 45 Gen 5, H&K SFP9, and SIG Sauer P320.

These firearms were subjected to “intensive and comprehensive technical testing, a field trial, and the review of logistical aspects. Special attention was paid to the safe handling of the pistols.”
 

The P320 was eventually picked, even though the tests showed that only the Glock 45 met all the mandatory criteria. While the G45 was deemed fit for the troops, Switzerland’s policies regarding arms production and an overall economic assessment moved the crown back to the SIG Sauer P320.

“The economic assessment of all weapon systems clearly showed that the SIG Sauer P320 would generate the lowest overall costs over the planned useful life of 30 years,” stated a release from Armasuisse. “The life cycle costs identified by the evaluation report demonstrate clear cost leadership compared with the two competing systems.”

Domestic production was another hugely significant factor in the P320’s adoption. Switzerland’s Federal Council mandates that “security-relevant industrial capabilities” be established inside Swiss borders. As such, SIG Sauer guaranteed that it will relocate the essential elements of P320 production to consolidate manufacturing of the Swiss P320 variants inside Switzerland. 

According to Armasuisse’s latest release, the new P320 pistols will be delivered in waves, along with accessories such as magazines and holsters:

“The requirements of the Swiss Armed Forces regarding a new service pistol is for 140,000 weapons. The first lot of 50,000 models is to be requested for procurement with Armed Forces Dispatch 26. A mid-range double-digit million amount is set for the procurement according to the current budget. In addition to the service pistols, further operational material such as additional magazines or holsters as well as training material such as documentation and non-shootable ‘dummy’ pistols is planned.”

Other factors that favored the P320 platform were the widescale adoption of the gun by other domestic services and foreign military and police forces. This marked the P320, in the eyes of the Armasuisse assessors, as a “tried-and-tested weapon system,” despite some current heated debate about the P320 platform here in the States.

Switzerland will modify the P320 for its needs, specifically in the realms of ergonomics and the robustness of certain components.