The Ministry of Defence has published a pre-procurement notice on April 11, 2024, indicating plans to contract the supply of 105mm illumination shells.
These munitions are intended for the 105mm calibre L118 Light Gun and are designed to provide illumination for various military units, including the STRIKE and Armoured Infantry Brigades, Airborne Task Force, and Lead Commando Group.
According to the notice listed in the Contracts Finder, the ministry is seeking shells that can produce illumination in the white visual spectrum and must be compatible with the current in-service fuze and charges.
The requirements specify using L163 Fuze and Charges L35, L36, and L45. The fused illumination projectile must also be compatible with the in-service L118 Light Gun barrel and achieve a target effect at a range of at least 15,700 metres.
The detailed specifications include that after expulsion, the illumination components should provide visibility within the 0.4 to 0.7μm spectrum. Vendors are asked to state product capabilities concerning brightness, measured in candelas, non-flickering circular range, and illumination burn time characteristics.
The Ministry has not specified the contract’s value but notes the contract may be suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Potential suppliers are required to provide rough order magnitude (ROM) costs for an estimated quantity of 16,000 shells, with delivery expected by 2026 either in one batch or staggered deliveries.
Additionally, suppliers should advise on the minimum economic order quantity (EOQ) and potential for banded pricing strategies. Interested suppliers must respond to the Ministry of Defence by April 26, 2024, at 22:59.
George, if all the dates you list are correct, what an absolute dogs dinner, that MOD expect industry to respond within a little over two weeks. Even with the best will in the world, industry will be hard pushed to turn around a response that fully details all the information that DE&S always want answering.
There’s an article from Nov 2023 about this from Army Technology, so it could have been going longer.
Cheers Coll, don’t remember seeing that article.
No problem.
Star shells is a nicer term “1 Rd Starshell engage Stop Starshell,Stop Starshell Stop Starshell” a lot easier than saying Illumination George
Hmmmm…Twin target night NGS shoot with Starshell…That sorts out the youngsters from the grown ups in the gunbay.
If it doesn’t illuminate the Bats it blinds the Fish
Suggests a lack of nihmghr vision equipment to me.
Not everyone has NVGs…and you can get IR Illum anyway.
If you fire the starshell over and set it to illum behind the targets they become silhouetted and easier to spot