{"id":11689,"date":"2014-01-13T12:30:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-13T01:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=11689"},"modified":"2014-01-14T08:55:51","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T21:55:51","slug":"why-the-adf-handgun-is-an-ethics-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/why-the-adf-handgun-is-an-ethics-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the ADF handgun is an ethics issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Last January, after an extensive period of testing, the British Army announced<\/a>\u00a0that their venerable Browning Hi-Power Mk III pistols would be replaced with modern Glock 17 Generation 4 pistols, as a result of hard-won, on-the-ground, operational experience. Many observers of military affairs have been waiting in anticipation for a similar announcement from the ADF, which is also equipped with the FN Herstal Browning Hi-Power Mk III (or the \u2018Self-Loading Pistol 9 millimeter Mark 3\u2019 in ADF parlance). However, a year later, no such announcement has been forthcoming and there haven\u2019t been any indications from Defence circles of a change in policy in the foreseeable future. This is an ethics issue.<\/p>\n

The state has a clear duty of care to ensure that its armed servants are as well equipped as possible to face the dangers of combat and prevail over their adversaries. On the whole, the ADF \u00a0goes to considerable lengths to fulfil that duty of care, from equipping frontline troops with quality armoured personnel carriers, to ensuring top-notch medical treatment for those injured in the line of duty. But there\u2019s a blind spot when it comes to handguns. Outside of the special forces community, very few members of the ADF are issued with pistols, and most of them are in support rather than direct combat roles. Contrast this with the British Army\u2019s commitment to rushing its newly-acquired Glock pistols to its frontline units deployed in Afghanistan, where pistols have been credited with saving the lives of several soldiers.<\/p>\n

The Browning Hi-Power is unquestionably a fine weapon, much loved by connoisseurs of guns. But the undeniable fact is that it\u2019s an antique, one that first entered military service in 1935. For all of the unquestionable genius of John Moses Browning\u2019s classic creation, it\u2019d be foolishness to think that the intervening eighty years haven\u2019t seen improvements in handgun design.<\/p>\n

Consider the Glock, for example. The Glock 17 has earned a reputation as the \u2018Kalashnikov\u2019 of handguns, a reference to its mechanical simplicity and unquestionable reliability under extreme conditions. It\u2019s 30% lighter than the Hi-Power\u2014and that\u2019s with a magazine loaded with 17 9mm rounds compared to the Hi-Power\u2019s maximum of 13. Obviously in circumstances that require the employment of a handgun it\u2019s better to have 17 \u2018on board\u2019 than 13\u2014even the quickest magazine change can\u2019t compete with simply pressing the trigger to send that 14th round on its way. The striker-fired Glock 17 can be safely carried with a round in the chamber and doesn\u2019t require an external safety catch to be disengaged before firing. British Army tests suggested that a Glock 17 can be drawn and fired in under a second, while engaging a target with the Browning could take \u2018four seconds or more\u2019<\/a>. The Glock is also significantly cheaper per unit than the Browning.<\/p>\n

My point isn\u2019t to push for the Glock 17 as the replacement for the ADF\u2019s Hi-Power pistols. The Glock is itself a 30-year-old design, and there are more recent designs that are also worthy of consideration. Whatever successor is chosen, it must come alongside recognition of the need to issue it across the force and train personnel accordingly.<\/p>\n

In a recent conversation I had with a SASR operator he referred to his handgun as being like a back-up parachute; likewise British troops in Helmand referred\u00a0 to theirs as \u2018lifesavers\u2019<\/a>. Hard-won experience has shown that when the magazine of a soldier\u2019s primary weapon runs empty they can transition to a pistol quicker than they can load another primary magazine, and the time advantage over trying to clear a stoppage before re-engaging is significant. Those seconds could represent the difference between life and death. And in circumstances where it\u2019s awkward or inappropriate to carry a rifle (such as when training host nation forces), a handgun on the hip offers a last-ditch defence against unexpected and much feared, \u2018green-on-blue\u2019 attacks. Furthermore, in close confines a pistol can often be brought to bear as the \u2018primary\u2019 more easily than a long gun, in a way that requires operators to expose themselves less to enemy fire. In the case of the ADF, this need is intensified by the difficulty of effectively employing the F88 Austeyr (the ADF\u2019s primary infantry weapon) from the operator\u2019s weak shoulder during cornering drills (also, in my view, ethically problematic).<\/p>\n

The current ADF handgun belongs to an era when bolt-action rifles were king of the battlefield. We wouldn\u2019t send our troops into harm\u2019s way with a .303 Lee Enfield rifle today, so why do we send them out with vintage handguns\u2014or none at all?<\/p>\n

Deane-Peter Baker is a lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. Image courtesy of UK Ministry of Defence<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last January, after an extensive period of testing, the British Army announced\u00a0that their venerable Browning Hi-Power Mk III pistols would be replaced with modern Glock 17 Generation 4 pistols, as a result of hard-won, on-the-ground, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":11690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,220,657,656],"class_list":["post-11689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-ethics","tag-handgun","tag-self-protection"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy the ADF handgun is an ethics issue | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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