In May 1982, the U.S. military established a new test program that revised the standards of reliability to a level close to that of a real-world environment, but still no pistol passed the test. In 1983, due to pressure from the U.S. Congress, the Army conducted a new pistol testing program, named "XM9 Standard Pistol Trials (ServicePistolTrials-SPT)". In November 1983, the Army formally submitted a request for tenders for the XM9-SPT to small arms manufacturers in the United States and abroad, requiring each manufacturer to provide 30 sample guns, spare parts and manuals, as well as factory representatives for the training of testers, and 10 pistols for the training of testers by the tender closing date at the end of January 1984. A total of 8 manufacturers tendered, namely: S&W459A, Beretta 92SB-F, SIG-Sauer P226, HKP7M13, Walter P88, Steyr GB Type and F Type, Browning FN-DA, Colt SSP. The Beretta 92SB-F is an improved version of the 92SB, the main feature is that the shape of the front end of the trigger retainer has been changed to a concave design to allow it to be held with both hands, and the production process adopts chrome plating in the chamber and "Bruniton" treatment. Later, Beretta felt that the name 92SB-F was too long and renamed it 92F.

The XM9-SPT began in early 1984 and was tested for reliability, ballistics, durability, shooting accuracy, and more in harsh environments. The test was completed in August 1984, and four of the eight test samples submitted by the manufacturers were disqualified due to technical subparity, and the other two were disqualified at the beginning, resulting in the dissatisfaction of the two manufacturers, S&W and HK, with the disqualification of their models at the beginning of the test. The remaining two were SACO Defense (at the time SIG-Sauer's pistol was imported to the United States by SACO Defense) and Beretta. After a price comparison, the Army opted for the Beretta 92SB-F in September 1984.

On January 14, 1985, the U.S. Army officially announced that Beretta 92SB-F was the winner of this competition, and Beretta 92SB-F was officially named M9 by the U.S. military. As one of the terms of the contract, the production of the M9 pistol was carried out in the United States. The M9 was first produced by the Italian company Beretta. In 1987, problems arose with some of the newly delivered Beretta pistols, which gave opponents an opportunity. In 1988, there was an accident with a broken sleeve in the M9. In accordance with the requirements of the Army, Beretta changed the design of the M9 pistol, and the 92F, which was produced according to this standard, was renamed the 92FS. Beretta's production line in the United States has been fully established, and since April 1988, all M9/92F sleeves have been produced in the United States, and there have been no sleeve breakage accidents since. Then the army tendered and tested again, and it was gone.

Beretta has successfully secured a series of other contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense to produce a total of approximately 500,000 pistols for the five major U.S. military branches: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. In 1978, the U.S. Air Force proposed the need for a new 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol to replace the aging .45ACP Colt M1911A1 semi-automatic pistol. JSSAP (U.S. Tri-Service Small Arms Planning Committee) extended invitations to several prominent firearms companies on behalf of the Air Force.

The comparative test was conducted in 1979 and was conducted by JSSAP. The Italian company Beretta originally submitted the Type 92S, but the U.S. Air Force needed a thumb-operated magazine jam like the M1911A1, so Beretta redesigned the Type 92S that could remove the magazine with the thumb, renamed the 92S-1, and the magazine jam could be operated on the left and right, and left-handers could also use it. In addition to this, groove anti-slip lines have been added to the grip and the sight has been enlarged for quick aiming. The Beretta 92S-1 was submitted to the U.S. Air Force for testing in 1979, while other competitors included: Colt's SSP, Smith & Wesson's M459A, FN's DA and FA, Spain's StarM28, HK's P9S and VP70, and FNM1935Hi-Power and Colt M1911A1 also participated in the comparative test to serve as a performance reference. At the end of 1980, the US Air Force officially announced the results of the tests, and the Beretta 92S-1 was rated slightly better than the other models. At this time, the other branches of the armed forces also need to look for new auxiliary weapons to replace the more than 25 different models of semi-automatic pistols and revolvers that have been used by the army for many years, and to switch to one caliber of ammunition. The most important is to replace the old 1911 pistol, which has been in service for 70 years, and according to a 1982 report, there are 417,448 registered .45 caliber pistols in the U.S. military. However, when the results of the pistol test announced by the U.S. Air Force in 1981 were officially accepted by JSAP, the U.S. Army questioned the effectiveness of the test program.

The biggest controversy is that many people in the U.S. military at that time believed that reducing the caliber was a wrong direction, so when it was first announced that the new auxiliary weapons would use the 9mm NATO standard caliber, they were already in a state of opposition; Another prevailing questioning was whether it would be necessary to replace all of them with new pistols, with the U.S. General Accounting Office recommending the purchase of more .38 caliber revolvers or the conversion of existing M1911 pistols to fire 9mm caliber rounds, arguing that either method would be much cheaper than adopting a new weapon.

In the face of opposition, the U.S. Department of Defense was asked by the U.S. Army to begin a series of new, more extreme tests, this time with a plan so severe that after the comparative tests, all the pistols that participated in the comparative tests were not qualified. But even with such a result, the Beretta pistol was still the best performing group. In May 1982, the U.S. military established a new test program that revised the standards of reliability to a level close to that of a real-world environment, but still no pistol passed the test.