US Special Operations Forces Are Getting A Long-Awaited Silent Weapons Upgrade

By*JARED KELLER
on*August 1, 2018
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U.S. Special Operations Command has doled out a hefty contract to upgrade its arsenal of M4A1 carbines with suppressed upper receivers, the culmination of a*long-running effort*to make America’s most elite service members even more silent and deadly.

SOCOM*awarded*a five-year, $48 million contract to Sig Sauer to provide U.S. special operations forces with what the Department of Defense has designated as*Suppressed Upper Receiver Groups, a program restarted last year after being abandoned in 2016.

It’s unclear which Sig Sauer upper that SOCOM has its eyes on, but Guns.com*notes*that Sig recently dribbled out some details on an upcoming SUR300 upper as an integrally suppressed 6.75-inch barrel with a 19-baffle Ti suppressor, chambered in .300 Blackout ammo. When reached for comment by Task & Purpose, Sig stated that the suppressor model was “completely different” from the SUR300.

This is the second M4 conversion contract between SOCOM and Sig Sauer this year: In February, the former*snagged*a handful of Sig Sauer MCX Rattler personal defense weapons for close-quarters combat. Also built on an M4A1 lower receiver, the Rattler upper can chamber both .300 Blackout and standard 5.56mm rounds.

As Soldier Systems*points out, the Rattler was*notadopted under the same SURG program, despite the similarities between the two receivers. But it’s worth noting that the Rattler*can*support*an external suppressor (Sig*provided*a specialized one to SOCOM for Rattler testing), even if that added length sort of defeats the purpose of upper’s shortened 5.5-inch barrel and compact side-folding buttstock.

Both the SURG and Rattler contracts*follow*SOCOM’s $10 million follow-up contract award to SureFire in November 2017 to continue supplying the command with suppressors and muzzle breaks, a service California-based company has*provided*since 2011. Taken together, the SureFire and Sig contracts come out to nearly $80 million in the last seven years.

And was that money worth it? Put it this way: None of SOCOM’s targets downrange can say otherwise.

UPDATE:*This article was updated with comments from Sig Sauer. (Updated 8/1/2018; 11:06 am EST)