DoD contract for Black Hills Ammunition

[Slater]

From today's (23 Feb 24) DoD contract announcements:

Black Hills Ammunition, Rapid City, South Dakota, is awarded a $30,885,083 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement, manufacturing, testing, inspection, and packaging of 9-millimeter barrier blind cartridges for use in military issue 9-millimeter pistols (M9, M17, and M18) for combat purposes to provide enhanced terminal effects. Work will be performed in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is expected to be completed by February 2029. Fiscal 2023 procurement of ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $334,080 will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via SAM.gov, with six offers received. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, Norco, California, is the contracting activity (N6426724D0032).

Haven't heard much about 9mm "barrier blind" ammo.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Contrac...ticle/3685947/

[SeriousStudent]

Interesting. So the SEAL's and Raiders are getting some quality ammo?

[gaijin]

Why not just purchase +P Gold Dot?

[ABNAK]

Interesting. So the SEAL's and Raiders are getting some quality ammo?

It appears so, at least for their sidearms. Wonder what design it's based off of? GD, GS, SXT, etc.

[202]

I wonder which 9mm “barrier blind” ammo they’ll be getting.

[lowprone]

I wonder when and where the blems will show up ?

[Alpha-17]

Be very curious to know what the design is. Didn't the Army adopt a Winchester JHP design back when they were part of the M17 program?


Not to be "that guy", but barrier-blind likely equals JHP in my thinking, and last I checked, the Hague Convention still saw those as a no-no. With it being the current year, the obvious "are these intended for domestic use?" question should be asked.

And who is still using M9s these days? Figured they'd been phased out of all but Guard units by now.

[Slater]

The 147 grain M1153 "Special Purpose Round" is a JHP projectile. It's evidently legal for use by the US military.

"Practice is in conformity with the prohibition and no State has asserted that it would be lawful to use such ammunition. The only exception to a complete prohibition of the use of expanding bullets is possibly the practice of the United States, although it is ambiguous. While several of its military manuals prohibit the use of expanding bullets, three legal reviews of ammunition and weapons by the US Department of the Army state that the United States will adhere to the Hague Declaration to the extent that the rule is consistent with Article 23(e) of the 1907 Hague Regulations, i.e. the prohibition of weapons causing unnecessary suffering. Hence, the use of expanding ammunition is lawful according to the United States if there is “a clear showing of military necessity for its use”. However, during the negotiation of the Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998, the United States did not contest the criminality of the use of expanding ammunition."


https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/cu...-ihl/v1/rule77

[markm]

Why not just purchase +P Gold Dot?

Everything has to be complicated.