In January 2017 it was announced that SIG Sauer had won the highly competitive U.S. Military Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract to replace the Beretta M9 as the standard U.S. military sidearm, and later that year the U.S. Army announced the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions were to be the first units to receive the M17. Only 3,000 of these pistols were returned to SIG Sauer for sale on the commercial market. The M17 is a variant of the SIG Sauer 320 modular pistol and integrates an ambidextrous thumb safety to the fire control unit. Features illuminated night sights, optics mounting point on the slide, "+P" weight recoil spring, and Coyote PVD metal finish and polymer color. A faint number "303" is written in white paint on the bottom of the trigger guard. The grip unit is marked size "M." The original box identifies the pistol as "UDM17-9-SURPLUS" and contains two extra magazines, a standard weight recoil spring, cable lock, and papers. An included Freedom of Information Act letter from the Department of Defense states this pistol was received by Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia, on December 9, 2017, and was later turned back in to the Fort Benning Logistics Readiness Center on March 22, 2019.