---
title: "US Special Operations Forces Are Getting A Long-Awaited Silent Weapons Upgrade"
date: "2018-08-01"
modified: "2018-08-01"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller.md"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/tech-tactics/special-operations-m4-suppressors/"
categories:
  - "Analysis"
  - "Around the World"
  - "Guns"
  - "News"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "United States"
  - "Weapons"
tags:
  - "special operations command"
---

# US Special Operations Forces Are Getting A Long-Awaited Silent Weapons Upgrade

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/18989637-1.jpeg>)

U.S. Special Operations Command has doled out a hefty contract to upgrade its arsenal of M4A1 carbines with suppressed upper receivers, the culmination of a [long-running effort](<https://www.armytimes.com/off-duty/gearscout/shot-show/2018/01/23/these-experts-explain-why-making-the-perfect-suppressor-for-troops-is-harder-than-it-sounds/>) to make America’s most elite service members even more silent and deadly.

SOCOM [awarded](<https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1586909/>) a five-year, $48 million contract to Sig Sauer to provide U.S. special operations forces with what the Department of Defense has designated as [Suppressed Upper Receiver Groups](<https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2017/06/27/the-new-stealth-infantry-how-suppressors-will-change-battlefield-tactics/>), a program restarted last year after being abandoned in 2016.

It’s unclear which Sig Sauer upper that SOCOM has its eyes on, but Guns.com [notes](<https://www.guns.com/2018/07/30/sig-sauer-lands-48-million-spec-ops-contract-for-suppressed-upper-receiver-groups/>) that Sig recently dribbled out some details on an upcoming SUR300 upper as an integrally suppressed 6.75-inch barrel with a 19-baffle Ti suppressor, chambered in .300 Blackout ammo. When reached for comment by Task & Purpose, Sig stated that the suppressor model was "completely different" from the SUR300.

This is the second M4 conversion contract between SOCOM and Sig Sauer this year: In February, the former snagged a handful of Sig Sauer MCX Rattler personal defense weapons for close-quarters combat. Also built on an M4A1 lower receiver, the Rattler upper can chamber both .300 Blackout and standard 5.56mm rounds.

As Soldier Systems [points out](<https://soldiersystems.net/2018/07/29/ussocom-awards-sig-sauer-48-mil-for-suppressed-upper-receiver-group/>), the Rattler was *not* adopted under the same SURG program, despite the similarities between the two receivers. But it’s worth noting that the Rattler *can*[support](<https://www.gunsandammo.com/gear-accessories/suppressors/suppressing-the-sig-sauer-mcx-rattler/>) an external suppressor (Sig [provided](<https://www.twz.com/18250/us-special-operators-will-test-sig-sauers-new-mini-assault-rifle-in-combat>) a specialized one to SOCOM for Rattler testing), even if that added length sort of defeats the purpose of upper’s shortened 5.5-inch barrel and compact side-folding buttstock.

Both the SURG and Rattler contracts [follow](<https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/11/07/surefire-awarded-socom-suppressor-contract/>) SOCOM’s $10 million follow-up contract award to SureFire in November 2017 to continue supplying the command with suppressors and muzzle breaks, a service California-based company has [provided](<https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/09/30/socom-buys-surefire-suppressors/>) since 2011. Taken together, the SureFire and Sig contracts come out to nearly $80 million in the last seven years.

And was that money worth it? Put it this way: None of SOCOM’s targets downrange can say otherwise.

UPDATE: *This article was updated with comments from Sig Sauer. (Updated 8/1/2018; 11:06 am EST)*

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## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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