The Glock 17 9mm pistol, a new handgun, will be supplied as the new combat weapon to the British armed forces. The Glock 17 9mm will replace the Browning 9mm pistol, that has been in service since 1967. When faced with a threat in close quarters (between 10 and 25 metres), the new combat weapon will enable British troops to shoot faster and more effectively. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has entered into a ÂŁ9 million to provide the Armed Forces with more than 25,000 of the Glock 17 9mm pistol and holsters.

Colonel Peter Warden, head of the MoD defence equipment organisation’s light weapons team, said that a Glock pistol would be available to every British soldier in Afghanistan within weeks.

While it takes four seconds to fire from the Browning, it takes only a second to fire from the Glock including the time taken to pull it out of the holster. The Glock 9mm handgun has in-built safety catches and hence the pistol can be kept fully loaded with a round in the chamber, even while it rests in the holster. Glock’s magazine can hold up to 17 rounds as compared with 13 rounds of Browning.

British soldiers found the Browning to be a cumbersome weapon during close encounters. The tedious process involved undoing the holster flap, flicking the safety catch and drawing a bullet from the magazine before firing a shot.

The Austrian-made Glock 9mm won the contract after a tendering contest and trials that stretched over two years, with the team firing thousands of rounds in climates ranging from -40C to deserts at over 50C. No British company competed; even the new pistol’s holster is made abroad, in Italy. The 9mm Glock, has even attracted the US including the law enforcement agencies, including police forces.