Tag Archives: socom

SIG to make more SURGS for SOCOM

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The U.S. Special Operations Command this week announced it intends to extend the contract for suppressed uppers from SIG Sauer, used to upgrade M4A1 rifles.

The notice, published July 13, named SIG as the sole source for the Suppressed Upper Receiver Group that SOCOM has been acquiring since 2018. The extension is for two additional years. 

“This system will continue to be fielded and supported solely by SOCOM and the extension with provide numbers to Full Operational Capability and spares support for the projected life of the system,” noted the command.  

The SURG was adopted to produce a weapon system able to be continuously suppressed while offering better thermal characteristics and less blowback than simply adding a suppressor and threaded barrel to a standard upper. The original contract award saw most of the big names in tactical ARs toss an entry into the ring, but SIG came out with the win. 

The winner was a drop-in 5.56 NATO caliber upgrade that essentially converted the standard Mil-Spec AR platform into an adjustable gas system SIG MCX, complete with a side-folding stock.

Using an 11.5-inch barrel capped with a direct thread Inconel suppressor, the latter is shielded by a distinctive titanium cage to help prevent burns by hot suppressors to operators moving through dynamic situations that, for instance, may require rapid transport to and from an objective in a cramped vehicle or helicopter.  

The SURG’s distinctive titanium cage and Coyote finish sets it apart. We came across these while touring SIG’s New Hampshire plant last October. When the initial SURG contract was announced five years ago, SIG said that the platform “withstood the stringent stress and torture requirements set by DoD for firing specifications, vibration, sound, and temperature requirements to ensure soldier safety.” (Photo and banner image: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

SIG’s SURG includes a complete MCX upper receiver group, direct thread Inconel suppressor, removable titanium cage, SD handguard, low profile handguard, folding stock with adapter kit, and is chambered in 5.56 NATO. (Graphic: SIG)

While the original SOCOM SURG contract was listed at a top value of $48 million, the amount of the extension has not been released. 

For those looking for a SURG of their own, SIG intends on offering a limited run of the uppers (798681675456), complete with a can and titanium cage, for commercial sale. Price starts somewhere in the $4K range on preorder, not including the NFA taxes, and when they are gone, they are gone.

SIG Rattler, now in 7.62x39mm for SOCOM?

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SOCOM– which earlier this year for up to $5 million worth of “Reduced Signature” PDW weapons in the form of modified commercial SIG MCX Rattlers in both 5.56 NATO and .300 Blackout– posted the notice for 7.62x39mm uppers for the platform in late October.

“Due to developing requirements,” explains the notice, the force at the tip of the spear is seeking conversion kits to include all “required hardware and ammunition magazines that will fit with the SIG Sauer Rattler and RSAR/PDW converted M4A1 lower receiver groups.”

SOCOM may be in luck as SIG recently debuted their first 7.62×39-chambered offerings in the MCX Spear-LT series. One of the options in that series is a factory SBR with an 11-inch barrel and an overall length of 29.75 inches, something that puts the company within striking distance of the RFI notice.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Vale, Carl Stiner

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Born in Tennessee in 1936, Carl Wade Stiner graduated from Tennessee Tech and joined the Army in 1958, spending his platoon leader days with the 9th Infantry “Manchu” Regiment. Earning a beret with the 3rd Special Forces Group in 1964, he went to Vietnam in the S-3 shop of a battalion in the 4th Infantry Division in 1967 after CGSS school, picking up a Purple Heart for his trouble. By 1970, he was jumping out of planes again as battalion commander of 2/325th Infantry, with the “All Americans” of the 82nd Airborne.

Passing through Carlise Barracks and picking up his first star, he later became the 82nd’s assistant division commander, commanded JSOC as a major general from 1984-87– a time that included the Achille Lauro affair– then went back to the 82nd as divisional commander.

Running XVIII Airborne Corps and JTFS, he was the brain behind taking down the Panama Defense Force in Blue Spoon/Just Cause in 1989.

Following up on that, he pinned on a fourth star and became the second commander on USSOCOM in 1990, a job he held for three years, a time that included running all special ops during Desert Shield/Storm.

Besides his Ranger and Airborne tab along with CIB, he wore a Master Parachutist Badge and Vietnam Service Medal with four campaign stars, showing he knew how to walk the walk in addition to talking the talk.

You may best know Gen. Stiner from his Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces (Commander Series) book with Tom Clancy, a great 400-page treatise on SOCOM’s first decade.

Gen. Carl Stiner, inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2004 and the 82nd Airborne’s hall of fame in 2019, died in Knoxville last Thursday, at the age of 85.

He is surely off leading the way into a brave new drop zone.

SOCOM Goes Rattler for PDW

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The U.S. Special Operations Command signaled the end of a five-year search for a personal defense weapon platform last week, opting to run Sig Sauer’s MCX Rattler.

The Commercial PDW contract, by its nature, needed to be filled by an off-the-shelf gun that was in current production. Sig introduced the .300 BLK-chambered Rattler in 2017 “at the request of elite military units” after a Request for Information was filed by SOCOM. The company then supplied a few to the country’s elite commandos for testing in February 2018. In a notice of intent to award published on May 19, 2022, it would appear those tests went very well.

“USSOCOM HQ has been researching and reviewing different systems since 2017,” said the notice. “We have meticulously reviewed each system for technical acceptance and whether it fits the commercial definition. Except for Sig Sauer, the vendors did not meet the technical requirements and/or the weapons do not meet the commercial definition.”

The SOCOM notice this month stressed, “The PDW system will allow Operators to have maximum firepower in a concealable weapon.” (Photos: Sig Sauer)

More in my column at Guns.com.

Daniel Still Getting Some Love from Crane

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The Pentagon announced earlier this week that Georgia-based Daniel Defense has won a large contract issued through the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Crane Division.

Located in Black Creek, Daniel Defense is no stranger to supplying high-speed components to the military’s most elite units, having delivered quad rails and the Rail Interface System II, or RIS II, to the U.S. Special Operations Command for years. Likewise, the company has been a supplier of barrels and gas blocks for SOCOM’s Upper Receiver Group-Improved program.

The URG-I, coupled with a standard M4 lower, is reportedly used by units as diverse as the U.S. Army Rangers and Special Forces. The latest contract for Daniel, a $9.1 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award, is for 11.5-inch and 14.5-inch cold-hammer-forged barrels for URG-Is. 

As the Navy’s FY22 workbook lists the price for these receiver kits- at $780, the contract could cover upwards of 11,000 URGs, enough for most of the trigger pullers in SOCOM.