The Ministry of Defence intends to award Heckler & Koch a ten-year contract worth around GBP 70 million to supply L7A2 general-purpose machine guns and associated equipment to the British armed forces.
The Ministry of Defence is set to award a contract for the supply of general-purpose machine guns to the British armed forces, according to a transparency notice published on 5 June 2026, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The contract is to go to Heckler & Koch (UK) Limited. It covers the L7A2 general-purpose machine gun and associated ancillaries. It runs for ten years and is valued at around £70 million including VAT, or just under £58.4 million before VAT. The buyer is the Dismounted Close Combat Team at Defence Equipment and Support.
The contract is to be signed no earlier than 29 June 2026 and would run to June 2036. It is an above-threshold contract, and the notice records that a conflicts assessment has been prepared.
The award is being made directly, without competition. The notice sets out why. Heckler & Koch is treated as the only possible supplier on technical grounds, under a single-supplier provision of the Procurement Act 2023.
That position rests on the gun’s history. “H&K upgraded the GPMG System to its current configuration in 2007,” the notice states. This is known as the L7A2 Mid-Life Improvement configuration. The notice describes it as “a materially different technical baseline than the previous configuration, incorporating a number of safety-critical modifications”. As a result, it says, “Only H&K UK therefore has the technical documentation to continue to supply the GPMG System in the L7A2 configuration”.
The L7A2 is the British service version of the FN MAG, a Belgian-designed 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun in use around the world for decades. In British service the weapon is a mainstay of infantry firepower. It is used in a light role carried by troops and mounted on vehicles, aircraft and ships. The “general-purpose” description reflects that flexibility, the same weapon serving across a range of roles.
A transparency notice is the step a contracting authority publishes before making a direct award. It sets out the intended supplier and the grounds for not running a competition, ahead of the contract being signed. The notice for this award lists Heckler & Koch (UK) as a small or medium-sized enterprise, based in Nottingham.
If it’s not broke don’t fix it👍
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I’ts interesting they are being supplied by Hk, the previous production has always been UK, originally licensed to Enfield and in later years to Manroy ( Fn UK).
I can only assume its design is no longer patented, (like the AR) if Hk are now supplying them?
These certainly an irony that Project Grayburn is supposed to bring small arms manufacturing back to the UK and the first they do it order new L7’s from abroad….
John, remember that we’re having to suffer Labour. Not just any Marxists but incompetent arrogant Marxists. They lie through their teeth and move Heaven and earth to damage the UK and our interests abroad. I call it treason and the penalty should be writ large.
Witholding the Defence Investment Plan for a year is subtle but devastating to the defence industry together with the economy.
Over the weekend we had the 2IC David Lammy stating (as if something to be proud of) that Labour is going to spend £270bn over the course of this Parliament.
That’s an average of £54bn a year. The Defence budget is currently £65bn a year so0 there is a disjoint.
We need 5% of GDP NOW. If that means that Benefits budget at 6 times defence needs to be trimmed then so be it.
to be replaced in 2035, but we don’t know what with.
Good weapon. Have also fired the Vickers .303 in Gib ..slow 600rpm but bloody good fun . Always wanted to fire the Bren as it’s had an awesome reputation.
How about the Vickers K-gun, also known as the Vickers heavy machine gun. It was a 0.303 pan fed machine gun that could achieve 1200rpm! Not many were built because the UK was committed to the Bren during WW2. However, it was K-gun was used vehicle mounted by the SAS and LRBG, RN coastal forces and on some niche aircraft types. Looks like the Lewis gun.
Cheers CR
As I understand, the Vickers K was designed as a defensive weapon for bomber aircraft, but with a move to heavier calibres and not required it was initially adopted by reconnaissance forces in North Africa. They valued that huge rate of fire you mention.
In the army cadets I was lucky to fire 0.303 Lee Enfield, SLR, GPMG, and Bren which was attached to the Wombat recoilless rifle, as a sighting rifle…9mm browning hi-power during a great trip to Winchester barracks…great days
Always loved this weapon. I remember armouries all over being raided in 82 as many as could be were taken south. There is no replacement or ever will be.
Wow! £70m will buy a heck of a lot of Gimpys. [I used to work for the Dismounted Close Combat Team at DE&S as a civvy contractor – I was PM for the Casualty Locator Beacon in 2010-11.]
£70m for gpmg’s ??? There’s 70000 in the army the navy only have a handful raf not much more. Are they taking the piss ?
I doubt more than 10-20% of the money is actually equipment purchases – most of it will be support contracts.
This is why we get so little bang for our buck – the UK military industrial complex.
Possibly the longest serving General in the British Army.
Both machine guns will be well looked after, and the contract includes some weapon oil and 6 rolls of 4 by 2.
Great weapon so reliable with the right operator, can’t fathom why the LMG was discontinued.
They say it was too accurate and the ammo carried was to heavy. Having fired and carried it often I have to agree. Personally I loved the accuracy of it. The weapon was simple, robust, not heavy and deadly accurate.
He means the minimi, which was known as LMG in service.
cut for some reason, which seems odd as it was popular
I actually know the guy who was part of the decision. The data says it can’t hit anything beyond 200m, so it’s technically a waste of ammunition. So they initially decided to just have the sharp shooter at section level. But that decision was sort of reversed by bringing L7 (GPMG) back at section level.
I think what we should have done was bought the longer barrelled version in when the initial batch were due for replacement.
LMG certainly got my call signs out of a number of tricky scraps in Helmand. It felt good hearing a number of belt fed weapons firing. And compared to GPMG, you could carry a seriously larger amount of ammunition. We’re talking several minutes more of rapid fire available.
yep, seems like an odd decision. I take it they have all been scraped or passed on ?
In the 50/60s it was the bren gun or LMG the minimi didn’t exist then 👍
Daniel, my REME units of the 1990s had the LMG (7.62mm Bren).
True.
The lmg was too accurate it when fired it didn’t produce a beaten zone whereas the gimpy does I always preferred the lmg though
I’ts interesting they are being supplied by Hk, the previous production has always been UK, originally licensed to Enfield and in later years to Manroy ( Fn UK).
I can only assume its design is no longer patented, (like the AR) if Hk are now supplying them?
These certainly an irony that Project Grayburn is supposed to bring small arms manufacturing back to the UK and the first they do it order new L7’s from abroad….
Such an opaque contract notice. Are any new GPMGs being ordered or is this just a maintenance and support contract for existing ones out to 2035? £70m seems like a lot just to maintain a few thousands machine guns but prices are high across the board these days…
Thought numbers were around 11,300 originally, so surely a lot less now. I took this just to be maintenance and support.
Past time that infantry machine gun is replaced with a light, modern 7.62 gpmg and when is the UK going to insist on composite casings to ease the load