U.S. Army weapons officials plan to purchase subcompact weapons from 10 different gun makers for testing in an effort to better arm personal security detail units.

U.S. Army Contracting Command, on behalf of Project Manager Soldier Weapons, recently announced it will spend $428,480 to award sole-source contracts to Beretta USA, Colt Manufacturing Company, CMMG Inc., CZ-USA, Sig Sauer and five other small-arms makers for highly concealable subcompact weapon systems "capable of engaging threat personnel with a high volume of lethal and accurate fires at close range with minimal collateral damage," according to a June 6 special award notice.

"Currently, Personal Security Detail (PSD) military personnel utilize pistols and rifles; however, there is an operational need for additional concealability and lethality," the notice states. "Failure to provide the selected SCW for assessment and evaluation will leave PSD military personnel with a capability gap which can result in increased warfighter casualties and jeopardize the success of the U.S. mission."

Companies selected have until June 16 to respond to the notice. The weapons will be used in an evaluation to "inform current capabilities for the Capability Production Document for the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence," the notice states.

"The acquisition of the SCW is essential in meeting the agency's requirement to support Product Manager, Individual Weapons mission to assess commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) SCWs in order to fill a capability gap in lethality and concealability."

Here is a list of sole-source contracts for the subcompact weapons:

Beretta USA Corporation for PMX subcompact weapon. Amount: $16,000.

Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC for CM9MM-9H-M5A, Colt Modular 9mm subcompact weapon. Amount: $22,000.

CMMG Inc. for Ultra PDW subcompact weapon. Amount: $8,500.

CZ-USA for Scorpion EVO 3 A1 submachine gun. Amount: $14,490.

Lewis Machine & Tool Company for MARS-L9 compact suppressed weapon. Amount: $21,900.

PTR Industries Inc. for PTR 9CS subcompact weapon. Amount: $12,060.

Quarter Circle 10 LLC 5.5 CLT and 5.5 QV5 subcompact weapons. Amount: $24,070.

Sig Sauer Inc. for MPX subcompact weapon. Amount: $20,160.

Trident Rifles LLC for B&T MP9 machine gun. Amount: $36,000.

Zenith Firearms for Z-5RS, Z-5P and Z-5K subcompact weapons. Amount: $39,060.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.