The Greek police have chosen a new service pistol after a two-year selection process. The winner of the process is the Austrian manufacturer GLOCK.

Interestingly, the offered GLOCK G45 was specially modified for the tender.
During the 2021 tender process, the offers from GLOCK with the G45 MOS, BERETTA with the APX RDO, and the Slovenian manufacturer AREX with the Delta Gen2 all made it through the first phase of the tender. However, the latter provider dropped out of the competition in the second phase, leaving the race between the two hammer-fired pistols from BERETTA and GLOCK.

However, the finally chosen G45 MOS AMS Gen5 is worth a closer look, as it is one of the few cases where GLOCK has developed a customized weapon specifically for a tender. In addition to the proven GLOCK Safe Action® System, the Greek G45 MOS AMS Gen5 Ambidextrous Manual Safety has a bilateral safety lever to meet the requirements of the police. The lever at the end of the slide allows for manual selection of the safe (S) or fire (F) position. The design intervention was significant, making other Glock triggers, especially those from aftermarket manufacturers, incompatible. Despite the modified trigger, the trigger weight remains at a common 2.6 kg or 26 Newton.

The pistols are delivered with three 17-round magazines and the well-known Beavertail Backstrap System (MBS), which allows for changing grip backstraps to tailor the pistol to the hand of the user. Another requirement of the tender was the cartridge status indicator. This is represented by the extractor, which visually and tactually stands out when a round is chambered. Behind the MOS designation is the Modular Optic System provided by GLOCK, consisting of a slide with a mounting plate for a red dot sight. Additionally, the weapon comes with self-illuminating and raised steel sights, allowing for the installation of a sound suppressor.

With the GLOCK G45 MOS AMS Gen5, the Greek police receive a modern self-loading pistol that is tailored to their needs. This allows for the gradual replacement of the Heckler & Koch USP, which was last delivered to the Greek police 12 years ago and was produced under license by the state-owned company Hellenic Defence Systems.

By Pavlos A. Skontzos and Kristóf Nagy, Images: Pavlos A. Skontzos/Glock

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