Seems that the P250 has failed yet again after being dropped because of reliability problems with the FAMs (US Federal Air Marshalls). Of course, SIG also failed at the BATFE handgun procurement competition due to.......reliability problems.
One would think SIG would stop producing flashy junk and concentrate on quality but apparently three government contracts lost isn't enough of a hint, eh SIG?
Letter as sent to the Chairman of the Dutch House of Representatives
Date: November 8, 2011
Subject: Dissolution procurement agreement of new police service pistol.
Hereby I inform you that today I have with immediate effect decided to dissolve the agreement with the manufacturer of the new police service pistol, the company SIG-Sauer.
After the signing of the agreement the manufacturer prepared the pistol for mass production. Therefore the pistol had to be tested again. Furthermore the police had to test the pistol with the new police-cartridge (Action NP), as was communicated in the procurement procedure. This cartridge was only been available after the procurement and differs only minimally from the cartridge (Action 4) that was used during the procurement procedure. After the testing process was concluded three times with negative results the manufacturer was formally notified that it was not in compliance.
Unfortunately after the negative result of the fourth and last test it is found that the company SIG-Sauer cannot deliver the promised quality in mass production.
On the basis of the results of these tests I no longer find it responsible to continue with this pistol. There is no longer enough confidence in the quality of the pistol or in the capacity of the manufacturer to improve the quality or safeguard it. All this brings a risk to the safety of officers on the street. I have now delegated a (legal) review to examine the possibility of coming to an agreement with one of the other suppliers that has had their pistol operationally tested in the procurement procedure.
The replacement of the current police service pistol will be delayed by at least six months due to this. There will be new tests and a new retraining planning will be made. Till that time the current pistol (the Walther P5) will stay in use with the Dutch Police. The Glock 17s will stay in use with the police SWAT teams. The safety and operational deployability of these pistols is so far still guaranteed.
I will provide you with more information as soon as possible.
Minister of Security and Justice,
I.W. Opstelten
P250 problems? Say it isn't so!
ReplyDeleteI feel so sad for SIG... wait, I'm not!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if those were the ones with the rainbow-TiNi anodized slides?
ReplyDelete