Pistols: How Glock was deprived of a major contract

The selection process was set up last fall. The Austrian manufacturer was in the running Glock with his G45 pistol, the German company Heckler & Koch with the FSP9 and the US manufacturer SIG Sauer with the P320 pistol. The latter is a former Swiss company and still has a branch in Neuhausen am Rheinfall in Switzerland. The order is worth the equivalent of 96 million euros.

“Partially failed”

As the Swiss online medium watson.ch reported on Thursday, the Glock 45 is very popular with Swiss military experts and should actually be used.

“All three weapons were subjected to intensive and comprehensive technical testing, a troop test and testing of logistical aspects. Particular attention was paid to the safe handling of the pistols. The tests showed that only the Glock G45 met all the must-have criteria and was classified as suitable for troops,” says the Swiss magazine Militar aktuell. “Despite this top technical performance (note: the Glock), the choice surprisingly fell on the SIG Sauer P320.” Surprising because the SIG Sauer P320 is said to have “partially failed” the comparison. According to reports, the Ferlach pistol manufacturer Glock feels ignored.

No legal remedy possible

“The Swiss army does have expensive tendering procedures and when, as in this case, Glock is the best bidder, the army chief comes and says, I’ll take someone else,” criticizes an insider in an interview with KURIER. “Glock cannot appeal this decision.” Glock’s Swiss partner has intervened massively with politicians, but the matter itself has been decided. The procurement of the first 50,000 pieces is said to have already been approved by politicians. Also the Swiss arms chief Urs Loher is said to have campaigned for the SIG model, reports the daily newspaper Blick.

The Federal Office for Armaments Armasuisse justified the decision “with a holistic utility analysis: This showed that the P320 caused the lowest overall costs over the planned service life of 30 years and also made the greatest contribution to strengthening the local defense industry.” In the end, the SIG Sauer should be 20 percent cheaper. In addition, the weapons should be “manufactured and maintained entirely in Switzerland”. SIG Sauer currently produces primarily in the USA.

Strong criticism

In any case, this procurement is said to have met with considerable criticism due to alleged security problems. The P320 is highly controversial because it is supposed to fire shots on its own. In a number of cases, particularly in the USA, the P320 is said to have been triggered when pulled from the holster. Or to put it another way: There were and are reports of unwanted shots being fired in the USA. They have fueled the debate and raised questions about the reliability of the weapon.

But SIG Sauer is said to have assured the Swiss Army that the weapon had no weaknesses or defects. The incidents are said to have been “due to operating errors”.

No answer

However, this controversial procurement will continue to concern the Swiss public for some time to come. Because the case is considered a prime example of non-transparent contract awarding. “The decision in favor of the SIG Sauer P320 shows that national arms policy interests and economic development were actually given greater weight by those responsible at the federal government than the greatest possible functional reliability of an army pistol,” writes watson.ch.

A written request to SIG Sauer in Switzerland was not answered by the time of going to press. An official query from KURIER to Glock was also not answered.