US army spends £43m on BAE lightweight cannons
Last updated 09:07, Monday, 18 August 2008
BARROW’S shipyard arms factory has been given a summer boost with a £43m gun deal.
The order – for 43 M777 lightweight cannons – is from the American government.
The contract is worth a total of £42.8m to BAE and its contractors in the US as well as the Barrow arms plant.
It brings the combined orders from the US Army and Marine Corps to a massive 719 guns and helps take the workload at Barrow – where 480 people are employed – through to at least 2012.
Another order for 47 guns is anticipated from the Australian government and there is hope other nations, including Denmark, will buy it.
A BAE spokesman said: “The M777 is the world’s first artillery system to incorporate the large-scale use of titanium and aluminium alloys in gun design, resulting in a howitzer which is half the weight of conventional 155mm systems.”
BAE has delivered more than 400 M777s to the US army and US marine corps with final assembly at Hattiesburg.
M777 is currently in service in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Canada also has 12 M777 howitzers in service, with potential requirements for an additional 25 howitzers. The Canadian Royal Horse Artillery has a number of M777s operational in Afghanistan where the gun is known by local insurgents as the Desert Dragon.
Weighing less than 4,200kg, the M777 is the world’s lightest 155mm calibre howitzer.
The M777 is currently in service in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
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