U.S. Army weapons officials today explained the service's recent decision to dual-arm more soldiers in combat units with the service's new Modular Handgun System in addition to the M4 carbine.
Earlier this week, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky became the first Army unit to receive the MHS, which comes in two versions — the XM17 full-size MHS and the XM18 compact MHS. Once the Army type-classifies the MHS, they will go by M17 and M18. For more details, see this KitUp article.