Different suppressors for training, combat? Sig Sauer offers new way to reduce toxic fumes

In 2017, gun maker Sig Sauer landed a five-year, $48 million contract with U.S. Special Operations Command to upgrade operators’ M4A1 carbines with integrally suppressed upper receivers, an aggressive move toward a future warfighting concept that some have called the “ stealth infantry .” The idea: to radically reduce the sound signature of friendly troops by suppressing every weapon on a battlefield. The contract also plunged the company into engagement with an emerging area of concern: the health dangers of toxic gases and particles blasted back into the shooter’s face when firing a…