Canadian military will wait until 2023 for new pistols, says latest gov't update

Just as the seasonal changes bring a shift in the weather, it seems that they also bring further delays in Canada's military procurement process. At least, that's the case with the service pistol replacement plans; as winter is about to turn into spring, the latest reports say the Canadian military won't receive new pistols before next year.

The delay is because the procurement process (already years, maybe decades overdue) was stalled last year over a complaint from Rampart International. Originally, the plan was to have pistol deliveries starting in 2022, but the restarted procurement process has extended that plan.

Rampart supplies Glock pistols to Canadian military and police customers, and was unhappy its firearms were ruled out by the government's desired spec list for the new military pistol contract. As we told you back in November of 2021, "According to Rampart International, the federal government's terms unfairly favoured other pistol manufacturers competing with Glock. Rampart International made its complaint to CITT back in July. At that point, CITT said 'Rampart alleges that the solicitation requires certain design types that serve no legitimate operational requirement and favour certain bidders.' "

As a result, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) told the government to re-start the procurement process with revised specifications, which allows more companies to bid. A DND spokesperson told the Ottawa Citizen that the government issued a new bid package on February 18. Poking through Canada's Defence equipment purchases and upgrades page, there's no easily-found update on these details (although it is quite easy to get stuck in a never-ending loop of hyperlinks).

Heading over to the BuyAndSell.gc.ca website, you can find the info on the updated tender published, with the new timeline. According to the listing, the new tender will close on April 19. Working from that date, DND's spokesperson told the Ottawa Citizen to expect first deliveries of the selected pistols in 2023, with 7,000 pistols purchased for the army, and other branches of the armed forces following, with up to 16,500 pistols purchased in total.

Although the DND may have been told to revise its spec sheet, note that the tender still sounds a lot like the previous listing: "CAF personnel require a reliable and effective personal weapon and holster system to deal with constrained close-range situations. The C22 MPP will ensure that CAF personnel have a precise modular pistol and holster system that is reliable and dependable when used by personnel in operational situations from urban areas through dense vegetation to open savannah, arctic and desert under a wide range of climatic conditions."

There are no Interested Suppliers listed yet, but expect SIG Sauer to once again try for the contract, with Glock as well.