The U.S. Air Force ordered a service-wide safety inspection of every single one of its M18 pistols after one discharged and killed an airman last month at an Air Force base.
The decision, announced late last week, came after Airman Brayden Lovan was killed in an incident at F.E. Warren Air Force Base involving a M18. Lovan, 21, died July 20 after a M18 pistol discharged. Lovan, who served with the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Security Forces Group, at the Wyoming air base, was identified by the Air Force four days later. The incident is currently under investigation.
Now the Air Force is taking its largest action yet in response to Lovan’s death, enacting safety inspections of the approximately 125,000 M18 pistols in its arsenal.
“The Air Force directed the service-wide supplemental inspection of the M18 out of caution to validate the serviceability of weapons and reinforce confidence in their use,” an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement on the move.
The spokesperson added that weapons safety “is a critical responsibility and we continue to prioritize the security of our airmen and guardians as they perform their challenging missions.”
The service-wide inspection comes after two major commands issued full or partial pauses on the use of the pistol. The M18 is the military version of manufacturer Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol. It is the compact option of the military’s Modular Handgun System and is also used by the Navy and Marine Corps; the U.S. Army also operates the M18 and the M17 pistols. The other services have not announced similar large-scale inspections of their arsenal of M18s.
Air Force Global Strike Command first paused the use of M18 pistols, saying it will stop using them until the investigation into Lovan’s death is complete. Some elements of Air Combat Command also joined in the pause, and the command said that some units will conduct additional training with the weapon out of safety concerns on the handling and use of the pistol..
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The gun has been accused of firing when the trigger is not pulled. The P320 is widely used in law enforcement. Last week, in the wake of announced M18 pauses, Sig Sauer issued a statement saying that the gun design has been “thoroughly tested and validated,” and refuted claims that the pistol can accidentally discharge.
It’s unclear how long the inspections will take or if the Air Force will take additional precautionary measures regarding the M18 pistol.
