The US Army's new MK18 could be the Compact SIG SPEAR known as the SIG SPEAR ASSAULTER or SHORTY SPEAR. This 9 inch variant retains much of the power of the Spear but in a much more compact size. This variant could easily be seen within US Special Operations in the near future as the design is smoothed out and perfected. Although there are problems with this variant we discuss all of the pros and cons of this very interesting compact weapon system.