While all manufacturing of handguns, shotguns and rifles will now be located in Tennessee, Beretta is keeping administrative, marketing and sales operations in Accokeek, Md., which is about 20 miles south of Washington, DC
Beretta has made the 9mm semi-automatic M9 for the Army since 1985. That contract runs until next year, and Beretta has made a bid to make the successor model.
The Army’s lengthy list of requirements include an adjustable grip that can easily fit large or small hands and the ability to accommodate sights that make it easier to shoot in low light and laser aiming devices. The military also wants a gun that can be equipped with a suppressor, which muffles the sound of gunshots.
Beretta board member Jeff Reh said more than 80 percent of what the Army is seeking at a cost of $1 billion can be accomplished by modifying the current M9, while keeping the same caliber ammunition, training requirements and logistics.
“This is available now if they need it,” he said.
The Army declined Beretta’s proposal to use an updated version of the current gun, Reh said. But some political opposition has since arisen to the introduction of a completely new gun over the cost, “so what ends up happening with that program, we don’t know,” he said.
Beretta has operated in Italy since 1526, and in the United States since 1977. The company’s sales reached $430 million in the US in 2015, out of $725 million sales worldwide, said Pietro Gussalli Beretta, the president and CEO of Beretta Holding.
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