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Goodbye Beretta, hello SIG SAUER. As Army Times reports, the US Army has chosen SIG SAUER’s version of the modular handgun system as the winner in a years-long competition.

The Modular Handgun System program was designed to find a single handgun that could fill all of the Army’s different missions, from full size combat handguns to compact handguns for undercover and police work. The goal was a single handgun system that would reduce overhead for spare parts and allow for better unified training within the ranks.

Sig Sauer beat out Smith & Wesson, Beretta and Glock for the contract worth up to $580 million, which includes firearms, accessories and ammunition.

Smith & Wesson entered a slightly upgraded M&P for the competition, Beretta designed a new pistol called the APX (as well as an upgraded version of their 92FS), and GLOCK went down to Gander Mountain, grabbed a G17 off the shelf, and slid it under the door with a crisp clean $100 bill. Okay, that last part might not be completely accurate.

While handguns were part of the competition, it also included ammunition and suppressors. The military really just wanted a single source where they could buy a complete package, and SIG SAUER’s evolution into a complete package provider with silencer, optics, and ammunition manufacturing in-house filled the bill.

The process of selecting a new handgun proceeded with all the speed and efficiency you’ve come to expect from the government procurement process.

The Army first announced the competition for the MHS back in 2011, but multiple delays left the most recent solicitation deadline at February of 2016.

Congrats to SIG.

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148 COMMENTS

  1. Let the protests by the losers begin. This is where the fun is.

    Remember, after Boeing lost the Air Force aerial tanker award, Boeing protested. Primary complaint seemed to be that the Air Force pick the winner without any information as to how a company with no experience with aerial refueling would develop and field that capability. After the protest, the contract was cancelled, and a new procurement begun. Boeing won, second time around. Guess which aerospace company cannot build a tanker???

    • That was just one factor of their protest. The deciding factor of the protest has to do with the fact that the USAF providing little guidance on the size of the aircraft that they wanted. Boeing bid based on a 1:1 replacement of the KC-135, while Airbus/Northrop offered the much larger A330.

      • Wasn’t this the project where an Air Force General who was involved with this in the beginning retired from the Air Force and was promptly given a cushy job with the contractor that bid for it?

        • No that General getting a job with Boeing was when Boeing won the first round. The second round which went to Airbus is what we are talking about.

    • It was a fair fight and a stout win. [Way I’ve heard it] Beretta is the only one willing to drop their previously fired test handgun 100′ from a helicopter and put another 1,000 rounds through it. No other competitor dared try it.

      • That isn’t why the M9 won. The GOA protest paper is online somewhere, but the conclusion is that the M9 is the only pistol to pass the mud test. But the 226 was brought forward to final bidding because they needed at least one company to big against Beretta. Ultimately the M9 came up cheaper and was selected.

        • Yes to all of that. I didn’t say it was even ‘why’. My understanding was it was an after test challenge, Beretta already knew it had bagged all the quals, and threw in a STFU for a night cap.

          The M9 is a fine firearm, it’s not done saving and taking lives. I hope the CMP gets a few nice specimens.

          And I get the rest.

        • Yes, and I hope the CMP gets a cadre of a few nice specimens of those too.

          And I get the rest. Don’t worry, I’ll share. They’re more fun (even in the traffic pattern) when they’re swarming like moths around a bulb.
          Wish we could get our 14’s back from iran.

      • “Wish we could get our 14’s back from iran.”

        Are you serious?

        When the ‘Tomcat’ was finally taken out of USAF service, they put in some serious work hunting down any ’14 parts and airframes that they could find in the world and crushed them.

        *Crunch*

        Just to make sure Iran couldn’t repair the ones they had. How do you propose we keep them airworthy without parts?

        (About 3 miles from were I am sitting is an un-crushed Tomcat. On of the very few left on the planet…)

        • I seem to recall that. Right after the “USAF” took “Tomcats” out of AIRCRAFT CARRIER service…

        • Gumman builds a mighty fine bird. The U.S. NAVY was lucky to have her (the Tomcat), and I don’t think that there’s even an aircraft today that matches it’s radar capabilities.

          crushed ’em huh? Just one more reason to hate iran, running out of space to keep all the reasons.

        • There’s an uncrushed Tomcat in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum facility near Dulles Airport outside Washington DC.

        • With exception of pistols for the European market and Swiss Arms rifles, all SIG pistols and rifle are now made in the United States.

        • Beretta used to make very good guns but now they are making junk like everyone else. I recently looked at Brand New Model 92’s and the now have a junk cast locking block, junk plastic safety and a junk plastic trigger. I only had a few minutes to look at the piece of crap but If I had had a longer amount of time I probably would have found more horrors.

          Berettas new plasticky pistols are really the pits as well. I read a lot of bad things about their platicky “Nano” pistol as well like cracked plasticky frames.

    • It’s an old story, Ralph. The standard issue musket of Washington’s army was French. All smoothbore muskets made by the new US were .69 caliber, even their later cap locks.

      The 75mm gun fielded by the army thru 2 world wars was French in origin. The 20mm aa gun used by the navy in ww2 was Swiss. The 40mm Bofors was Swede.

      The 105mm gun that the M1 tank entered service with was British and the 120mm gun that it was replaced with was German.

      Our most famous fighter of ww2 had a british engine. The P51.

      • To add to the list, I understand that the Springfield M1903 ‘borrowed’ features from the Mauser action and therefore the US government had to pay royalties to Mauser due to patent infringement. They had to do the same for the spitzer bullet design, many millions of dollars!

        Conveniently for the USA, World War 1 came along and solved the patent infringement problems!!

        Further details in Alexander Rose’s excellent book ‘American Rifle’.

  2. Congrats Sig-Sauer.
    I am a Sig fanboy.
    A manual safety is a feel-good impediment to quick reaction firing by scared pussies.
    I’ll take either a double-action with a de-cocker (like Sig),
    a strike-fire pistol like the Glock, or
    a 1911 half-cocked and locked with grip-safety.
    The ultimate safety is the shooter’s discipline.
    The M9 was a POS foisted on the military by inexperienced chair-wallowingbureaucrats.
    Ever wonder why damn few police use them?
    Because police don’t have bureaucrats choose their weapons.

    • Because the Glockd sold for several hundred dollars less per gun, civilian bureaucracy coukd help but ignore the higher priced Berettas.

    • 25 years ago Beret ta 92s were all over PDs everywhere. Haven’t you ever seen Lethal Weapon of Die Hard? But unlike the military, PDs swap out for new guns before they run 100,000 rounds through them. Beret ta didn’t need PDs since they had the military contract, so ever since there have always been other companies happy to offer better deals to law enforcement. The bureaucrats who make those decisions don’t really give a shit which pist ol is best anyway.

  3. Let’s hope the next fighting man who gets to carry it comes home with it, and it becomes the favorite his grandkids’ll say that crazy-grandpa loved his Sig Sauer the ARMY issued him, and he bought one the year after he married grandma.

  4. Your comment is awaiting moderation.
    Congrats Sig-Sauer.
    I am a Sig fanboy.
    A manual safety is a feel-good impediment to quick reaction firing by scared pussies.
    I’ll take either a double-action with a de-cocker (like Sig),
    a striker-fired pistol like the Glock or Sig 320, or
    a 1911 half-cocked and locked with grip-safety.
    The ultimate safety is the shooter’s discipline.
    The M9 was a POS foisted on the military by inexperienced chair-wallowingbureaucrats.
    Ever wonder why damn few police use them?
    Because police don’t have bureaucrats choose their weapons.

    • Visit Brownells showroom in Grinnell Iowa. There around Thanksgiving and they had bunchs of popu used. I’d assume Eurowussy popo.

    • Ohole’s (lingering) appointee-flunkies are going to pull all of the M9’s before the new Sig’s are even fund-approved. You’ll need to bring your own Hi-Point, and you’ll be happy to have it.

  5. ABFT
    Other then that.
    As long as its a 9mm. Doesnt matter what gun they chose.
    Its better then nothing but still sending a soldier almost unarmed into combat.
    Gotta toss a lot of those 9mm balls at once.

      • Not likely. Still have to issue to the useless 110lb soldierettes and Obumas legion of degenerates.

        Or PERHAPS this modular thing will allow the fems to carry 9mm (or 32) and the real soldiers can carry .45.

        • Actually the chassis in 45 caliber don’t fit the other caliber frames. The nine, 40 and 357 are all interchangeable.

    • None if the current places where we are fighting are signatories to the Hague Convention, and there is no reason we should be hamstringing ourselves with ball ammo. Does the Convention even apply to handguns?

  6. Sig the real perfection, no need to replace trigger or sights, no need to replace recoil spring, great out of the box, now what caliber since the US Army doesn’t like the 9mm, in their words lack of stopping power!

  7. They actually picked the best gun, and the one that’s modular!! The P320 is the best striker fired handgun out right now, well done Army…well done.

    • ‘The P320 is the best striker fired handgun out right now…’ – So you’re saying that out of all the really shitty plastic handguns on the market, the Sig is the best one. Good to know!

    • That very much depends how you define best. I personally think the PPQ has the best trigger currently available on a striker fired handgun. The Glock’s reputation for toughness is legitimately earned. But for a large military force the Sig has superior logistics and they are very easy to clean quickly, both of which are more important to the army then a fraction of MOA accuracy or having the smoothest trigger. Best gun in and of it’s self and best and most efficient gun for a military are not the same thing.

  8. Another day, another weapons “system” boondoggle.

    Now that the new pistol is “modular,” it’ll be only a few years before they’re letting out another contract because so many of the “modules” have gone missing while troops are downrange, and they re-think the “modular” idea – at great expense to the taxpayers.

    • Yep, it used take a bit of effort to steal a handgun, now a convenient, easy-to-steal smallish mech drops into a pocket looking like any other small do-dad someone has in their pocket…

  9. It’s funny. Last week I installed the G series decocker on my 92 and have been shooting the expletive out of it while my 320 sits in the safe.

    • Did you install that yourself? I’m not a ‘smith’ & mrgunsngear’s video on it didn’t leave me feeling very confident……

      • The new M9A3 decocker kits that came out recently are not the same as regular 92G series decockers, and convert an DA/SA decock+safety 92 to a decock-only 92.

      • I did it myself. Mrgunsngear’s video is not a very good resource. I watched it a few times and was able to remove the old safety but for installing the new decocker I had to refer to some videos I found in a thread on the Beretta forums.

        You’ll need some punches for sure. Be sure to note which detent is on the left (safety side) and right (trigger bar) because they are different. Definitely cover the slide with something when you pull the safety out because they will pop up and fly if you let them. It’s not the end of the world if you lose them (the kit comes with two of each) but it’ll make it harder to know which detent is which if you don’t see them when removing them.

        Don’t get too hung up on how the round spring goes in. The tail just has to catch the underside of the slide to create tension.

        It took me about half an hour the first time doing it. The next was much quicker. All the parts are really tough so don’t worry about breaking anything.

  10. Wasn’t Sig p320/p250 the only entrant that is modular? Seems like the others didn’t even come close to meeting that criteria.

  11. I’ve shot the Sig 320 and I’ve got to say that I was whelmed, although not overly or underly. I’d rather have the upgraded Beretta. They’re decent handguns if they aren’t beat to hell. Ours were. I didn’t realize that the parts could fit together snugly until a decade after I left the Corps.

  12. When Wilson Combat “upgraded” the M9A1 they had to throw the kitchen sink at it to improve it.

    . . . Like the finish, Wilson Grips, and a bigger mag-release button. YEP, the thing really sucked before those helps.

    • I have 2 of them, a WC92fs and the WC92g. Just picked up an 92fs compact for wilson to upgrade as well to match the fs.
      The only change they should make for the service pistol is to change all models to Gs (decock only) and swap to the slim grips. If only those two changes were made, the pistol would be ideal for service use. A user swapable threaded barrel for the 92 series is nothing, and its the kitty’s titties to run supressed.

  13. And when the Army finds out that the .357 SIG is deadlier than the 5.56 all thet have to do is upgrade and they can stop issuing those .22 rifles.

    • Forget that…the P320 magwell can hold 10 rounds of .45 or 14 rounds of .40 or .357, which means they could theoretically make 10mm and 9×25 versions!

  14. Berettas are fantastic firearms. Can’t wait to embiggen my ‘collection’ and parts supply with surplus items. Thanks Uncle Sugar!

  15. I’m curious about the caliber and ammunition. The caliber was open in the competition. The winner is also providing ammunition, and the Army seems to have changed their position on hollow points with this competition.

  16. Personally, I thought they should go with the Ru ger GP 100.

    ‘…and GLO CK went down to Gan der Mountain, grabbed a G17 off the shelf, and slid it under the door with a crisp clean $100 bill.’ – So you’re saying Gl ock just wasted $200 plus a perfectly good G17?

    Well at least the Sig guys can finally get over their penis envy.

  17. Lets compare the Sig to the Glock.

    The Glock’s striker is only 68.2 per cent cocked which means it will stay stronger longer before it weakens from being cocked and need replace because it becomes unreliable with its ignition. The Sig 320’s striker is supposedly 90 per cent cocked so it will have to be replaced sooner but its ignitions system when new should be a bit stronger being 90 per cent cocked.

    Pre-loaded striker fired weapons have notoriously weak ignitions systems as compared to the traditional hammer fired guns like the Beretta and 1911 pistols. I have tested the ignition strength of both the Glock 17, 19, and Walther P99 and they all failed the high primer test 3 times in a row trying to set off the same primer in each test compared to the various bone crushing ignitions systems of hammer fired guns like the Beretta and the 1911 etc. Its interesting to note that some years ago Germany tested pre-loaded striker fired pistols and found the ignitions so weak in comparison to hammer fired guns they tested the pre-loaded striker fired guns had to have the ignition power factor reduced substantially to even pass the test.

    Pre loaded striker fired guns also have open striker channels that let in dirt, dust, burnt powder , moisture etc which again makes them way less reliable than the closed firing pin tunnels found on most hammer fired guns.

    Safety: “What people cannot see they do not fear”. Guns with hammers let the operator know the gun is cocked and ready to fire. In other words “it scares the shit out of people” especially new recruits that usually have never even held a real handgun before. Not so much with striker fired guns as they cannot see the gun is cocked so the caution value is not there.

    Manual Safeties. The Beretta had a manual safety which was a plus both in carrying the gun and taking it apart. At least the Sig has a side lever for take down rather than the idiotic and totally unsafe Glock take down system that requires you to pull the trigger to take the gun apart. If you forget just one time to check the chamber you either shoot yourself or someone else. Brilliant system.

    The military should demand Sig put a manual safety on the 320 as the average recruit again has not the gun savvy or experience to handle a weapon without a manual safety and ditto for civilians that shoot themselves with Glocks and copy cat guns every day.

    Back Straps: Here Sig really dropped the ball as a person needing more trigger reach must replace the entire plasticky frame rather than just swap out another back strap that is much cheaper and quicker to do.

    Although the Military claims the Sig 320 is one gun that does it all I am willing to bet they end up adopting the 320 compact for tank crews or for air force personal climbing in and out of helicopters and jet planes.

    Since the Military has so many 92’s in stock now they will have to train recruits on two entirely different types of handguns. That takes time and money and in combat situation if you have to pick up the other pistol which you have never used everyday its a prescription for disaster. Another Brilliant move to adopt another totally different type of pistol especially one that is inferior in the ignition system.

    As usual the Neanderthals that procure weapons for the military never think things out from beginning to end and simply replace one system that may not have been perfect and usually end up with another system that is even worse and this time that is certainly the case.

    Of course now we will see Sig bring out a “look a like” military version of the 320 complete with military markings to give the civilian para-military lunatic fringe an orgasm as they believes that since the Military adopted the 320 it therefore has to be perfect in every way and now they all simply must have one.

    If the Military would have had brain one and were hell bent o n adopting a “plasticky pistol” they would have been way better off just adopting the H&K P30S. Its has a reliable ignition system being hammer fired, a manual safety which can be left on when loading or unloading the gun, a safe take down system and an excellent de-cocker lever to safely lower the hammer and the hammer does not crash down against the slide but is caught on the way down to gently lower the hammer. Now that is how to build a pistol even if it is “plasticky” but “plasticky” is about as good as it gets in todays econo-grade “plasticky” world of pistols.

    • Okay, Glock-fan, first of all, the request was very clear from the start about wanting a modular trigger group; Glock does not possess that if I am remembering correctly. That little bit was the bright red flag that this contract would be going to SIG in the end (yes, from the very start; that’s how it works). Secondly, swapping frame elements to fit in the field is a no-go; that will be the armorer’s job, so changing entire (cheap, plastic, unserialized) frames isn’t that big a deal. Don’t fret about a manual safety, I’m sure it will be present whether it needs to be or not.

      • Better ideas get written into specs If not patented, the completion can copy it or they can come up with a better better idea. Or sit on the sidelines and whine.

    • If the military had a brain, they’d have picked the five-seven they spent a mint commissioning a decade ago, and equipped the 2/3rds of patrolmen stuck on base doing menial tasks or light guard duty who rarely see combat, with handier PS90s or featherweight pistols in 5.7. The sidearm is nothing but a paperweight almost all the time, so this whole exercise is just military masturbation over some tiny minutia, intended to keep a lot of people employed “procuring” with very little risk to whatever decision they reach (spoiler alert; all modern pistols of even half-decent quality are highly reliable and would be as effective as the Beretta or any other sidearm we’ve fielded, again, not that it even matters given their rare usage). Maybe the real problem is the military procurement guys are simply too smart for the brass & congress who oversee them.

    • I understand why traditionalist want to safety, but today the most useful function of a pistol in the army is for when your Afghan or Iraqi liaison officer goes Sudden Jihad Syndrome in the headquarters tent and you have to draw quickly and put him down. In that scenario a safety is just an impediment, which is why the British army went with Glock’s on an emergency by basis for their Afghanistan mission.

  18. Other than pissing away huge amounts of taxpayer money, what is this pistol and its immediate predecessor can do that the 1911 couldn’t do 105 years ago ? Remember from a military standpoint, a pistols only use is to fight your way back to the rifle you should have never put down in the first place.

    • DoD found that over time, one of the critical determining factors in winning gunfights was volume of fire. It’s a large part of why we transitioned to 5.56: an individual soldier can carry a lot more of it than 7.62×51.

    • Weight, capacity, reliability, modularity, simplicity, and recoil, just off the top of my head.. or were you being rhetorical?

    • Two most anoying men in the world? Men who nitpick women like a biology frog & 1911 cult followers. You realise the world has moved on? The model T is a deathtrap in one color. The Red Barron is dead. That Titantic ship is at the bottom of the Atlantic. Phones are wireless and have no operator. Motion pictures are in sound and color, and even star people of color. Your 1911 is not made from holy water or is the best weapon since Excaliber. It is heavy. Has too many small parts. Is not cheap to build and needs a ton tweeks & fitting to work properly. It is not made for lefties or small hands. It’s swing link barrel system was made obsolete by the Hi-power in 1935. And for all that? You get 7 rounds. A PX4 has 10. A Fnx or Glock 21 carry 14. Cops do not carry it. The Feds do not pack it. And no military uses it today regularly. The damn Marine Raiders just tossed the Colt M45 after 2 years for Glock 19’s. So welcome to reality. We have moved on in gun designs in the last 100 years.

    • derfel: The P320 is more reliable than government-issued 1911s ever were. It’s cheaper to manufacture. It’s easier to learn to shoot. It has better standard sights. It can be more easily suppressed. It has a higher magazine capacity. Granted, it’s not got the same mystique as a 1911 in 45acp, but the military is not going to adopt a non NATO catridge. It’s really hard to see how a 9mm 1911 makes any sense at all.

  19. According toThe Army Times Sig entered 2 calibers with the p320, 9mm and 40s&w, and the US Army doesn’t like 9mm for lack of stopping power. Prior to 1985 when the Beretta was adapted, 9mm was as popular as 38 special, looks like a slow decline for the 9mm if the 40s&w is picked

    • I’m gonna laugh my ass off if they pick 40 S&W, right after the FBI ditched it for 9mm at long last. Somehow I doubt NATO is going to be cool with a new chambering.

  20. And thus ‘concludes’ a years-long process that cost tens of millions of dollars, the result being *exactly* what every person with the slightest familiarity with the contract knew from the very start. Bravo, you self-indulgent contract officers, bravo.

    How soon until Beretta contests the selection, and everyone pretends to play along with their appeal so as to keep the gravy train going even longer?

    • For the novelty of it I guess or to pay a fortune to a gun smith to retrofit. Everyone’s head would have exploded if Colt came out of left field and won with a modular matte blue railed commander with rosewood grips lol.

    • Because many are not shot much and for the ones that are, parts are easy to find, as is the knowledge to repair them.

  21. GLOCK, GLOCK, GLOCK, GLOCK, GLOCK, enough already the 32o is totally modular that the glock ain’t. The glock you have ONE frame/ONE GRIP Size that’s it. Sig 320 it’s more than 4, the Chassis can use more than 5 calibers, different barrel/slide lengths, mags are upsize compatible. People need to move away from the stale glock and evolve. They”glock” will always be stuck using the same system and won’t change for the next 20 years.

    • I’m confused. . . is the Glock with only one frame size and one grip size the same Glock designed in Austria and made in Georgia that comes in at least four discrete overall frame sizes, several different grip widths, slide widths, slide lengths, and ‘pull’ lengths, seven different calibers, a couple of different colors, variable trigger-pull weights, and interchangeable magazines within a given magazine-well-size of frame, or is it some other Glock?

  22. I have a P320, a 92FS, and a P226 (and other SIG’s & Smiths).

    I think both the 92FS and P226 are superior to the P320. Frankly, my P320 sucks in comparison.

    The only thing the P320 has going for it is its’ modularity and ease of cleaning.

    A modular version of the P226 would have been better.

  23. I’m a sig fan also. I own a p320c and think it is a great carry gun with the small subcompact frame. It looks like sig may be integrating lasers and perhaps lights into the grip module which adds another dimension.

  24. I’m willing to bet the $580 Million is the total amount on this initial contract and that it includes: Physical complete pistols (probably at around $200 per unit or less), boat loads of spare parts (unit armorers, maintenance units and depots), specialized tools for maintenance units, training, including developing of all the text books and training aids. In short a whole lot more than just the pistol.

    I like both Sig and Beretta- but am very surprised the Army went with a Striker Fired Double Action Only (DAO) pistol. The Army has preferred thumb safeties for most of the 20th Century.

    And, I’m also surprised the Army went down the Modular System approach- because since the Civil War, the Army Ordnance Corps has tried to simplify supply chains.

  25. They never should have chosen those crappy Berettas in the first place. Open top design for a combat pistol that would see service in the desert? They should have chosen the SIG P226 back in the 80s to begin with. Berettas are crap.

    • The 92 series is extremely reliable. I carried one all over central America, the Caribbean, and Southwest Asia. As long as I had a good magazine, I never had any problems with reliability, and that was the same thing I saw with everyone else I served with. Of the things to complain about with the M9, reliability is not one of them.

      • LAPD experience is far away from yours. My personal experience as well. But if you prefer outdated sloppy muzzle heavy Italian “engineering” with tiny sights, mile long trigger pulls, barrel links that break and an open top design that throws powder fragments into your face, rock on.

  26. At this point selection does not mean procurement. OSD will have to approve the decision. $580 million for a new handgun will be a tough sell even in a Trump adminstration. And if the P320 isn’t made here then good luck with that.

  27. So is this why they have spent the last two years NOT making MCX barrels? Being able to swap calibers and lengths was the big selling point. Huge disappointment.

  28. The glock fan boys are out in full swing lol. Relax your precious 17/19 is still being used in its designed spray and pray fashion.

  29. I’m happy for two reasons. The Sig P320 is a very good pistol (disclosure…my preference would be an HK product but, cost would disqualify them for such a large US contract) and this means tons of .mil M9’s will be available for the next few years for a song. I would get one just for old time sake.

  30. Nice guns! Just like all the other Glocks out there. Considering how similar, and ridiculously effective and efficient as handguns of wart, the striker guns now are, Gaston wasn’t exaggerating too much with that “Perfection” moniker.

    Personally, I like the Sig’s ergos the best as a service gun. For civilian and plain clothes, that high bore axis and vertical grip angle, renders Glock’s ace up the civvy sales sleeve, the 26, impossible to match in size and concealability.

  31. I love SIGs but having seen the new BERETTA APX I wonder why it didn’t manage to get awarded the US Army contract.

  32. Will our new not-at-all-black president respect the Army’s decision, or will the Fuhrer declare that He knows more about firearms than the military does, countermanding that our new sidearm be from an American company that He has heard of? Remington R51, a great new pistol for a country made great again!

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