The Ministry of Defence is in the process of awarding a contract, valued at £40 million, to FNH UK Ltd for the Mid Life Improvement (MLI) of the UK Armed Forces Commands’ in-service Heavy Machine Guns (HMG).
This initiative was detailed in a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency (VEAT) Notice.
The notice outlines the scope of the project: “This contract will enable the Authority to undertake the Mid Life improvement requirements for the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) that will ensure the UK Armed Forces Commands can meet their enduring and future capability needs.”
FNH UK Ltd, identified as the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Design Authority (DA) of the HMG, is recognised as the sole entity equipped for this project. The notice explains, “FNH UK Ltd are the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Design Authority (DA) and are the only economic entity with access to the necessary technical information, knowledge and expertise, for the HMG comprised in this contract.”
The justification for awarding the contract to FNH UK Ltd is further elaborated: “FNH UK Ltd are the only economic entity with the capability and access necessary to provide the required technical support to ensure it complies with the Authority’s specification, maintains the operational performance and effectiveness of the weapon system, and ability to underwrite the integrity of the modifications to the weapons systems as a result of a safety investigation.”
The contract, expected to span over five years, will involve subcontracting opportunities, focusing on repair and maintenance services of firearms and ammunition.
Mid life improvement programme!!
The M2 is 90 years old, so I assume we are planning a 180 year service life?
Manroy (now Fn UK) developed a quick detachable barrel for the M2 and then realised why Browning didn’t offer this to start with!
All fun and games, still an incredible piece of kit for a geriatric old fart…..
Well it’s in good company considering 50 year old Bushmasters are currently toasting T-90s.
oh and a friend of mine did the original production drawings for the Rarden in the late 60s and he’s about to hit 84.
Excellent, the old Rarden is is a meaty old piece of kit, surprisingly big when out of the vehicle , despite being clip loaded, it could deliver quite the punch with a well trained British Army crew behind it.
The Ukrainians have certainly put their Rarden equipped Scimitars to good use with shoot and scoot missions, playing shotgun to 4×4 equipped anti tank teams and their traditional forward recon role of course.
They’re hiding their scimitars or using them as taxis because a single fpv will ruin them.
They go the edge fire off all their ammo and go home to claim victory.
They’re light and fast.
But nothing is working as advertised.
The quick change barrel worked really well for us on HERRICK.
They got there in the end Bob, but the engineering staff realised why Browning never did it originally!
The different materials involved in a quick change mechanism caused lots of development issues…
I wonder if those SMASH 2000L scopes could be put on the HMGs.
Only £40 million? lol
Agreed. I wonder how many HMGs we have got? £40m sounds a huge amount of ‘wedge’ for an upgrade.
Quite a few now I believe. The Navy are in the middle of replacing the M134 mini gun with the M2. As the M2 has significantly better stand off range and penetrative power. Though even when fitted to a heavy duty mount they still dance around the target. The good thing about the mini gun is due to the near constant tracer stream, it’s a lot easier to walk the rounds on to the target.
The RAF are still sticking with the M134, GPMG and M60s. Though the new Model G Chinooks do come with the 50 cal option.
Army wise, I am hoping that they will fit the 50 cal to RWS. Thereby giving a vehicle a better stand-off engagement range against drones. Just need to detect the things before they get too close:
Thanks Davey. M2 in RWS – talking about Boxer?
That was my thought, atm it’s the only Boxer option isn’t it? Maybe a GMG but not much else?
UK has ordered two tranches of Boxer – Tr1 is 523 vehs, Tr 2 is 100 vehs. Funding was put in place for 1,018 vehicles in total, but rumour control says that the full order for 1,018 may not be made. No idea why – the funding line is there.
The army needs to equip 5 inf battalions(+ other arms & services) in the two ABCTs.
In parallel with the Tr1 order of 523 vehs, an order was put in for Kongsberg RS4 PROTECTOR RWS. From the Kongsberg company datasheet it can take:
Browning M2 and WKM-B (12.7 mm), M249 (5.56 mm), M240, UKM-2000C and M134 Gatling (7.62 mm), MK19, MK47 and H&K GMG (40 mm grenade launchers with airburst option), various Non-Lethal effectors. The RS4 allows for M240 (6.62 mm) coax kit or various ATGM integrations.
I have not heard if RWS has yet been ordered for Tr2.
The army staff has apparently been looking since Mar 23 on ways to increase the lethality of Boxer. Maybethis will result in ordering the bigger RS4 which can take cannon?
Bigger RS6 which can take a cannon!
It’s very important being our first line of defence on Boxer.
Or, is it the only line of defence on Boxer 😂
Well. I’d say only line of defence as the bean counters and penny pinchers won’t fit Trophy APS to all our armoured vehicles, which they most definitely should be doing.
They most certainly do Mr Bell.
Meanwhile.
The US Army’s first M10 combat vehicle is scheduled to be delivered in February, Janes learnt at Defence iQ’s International Armour Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference held in London from 22 to 25 January. The first phase of low-rate initial production (LRIP 1) of the M10 began in the first quarter (Q1) of fiscal year (FY) 2023, following a USD1.4 billion contract award to General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) in June 2022.
The company announced on 6 July 2023 that it had received a USD257.6 million contract modification for LRIP 2. Initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) is planned to commence in Q4 of FY 2024. The first unit equipped (FUE) with the M10 is planned for 2025.
The vehicle is designed to deliver a mobile, protected direct fire capability to US Army infantry brigade combat teams (BCTs), with its XM35 105 mm main armament providing lethal and sustained fires against enemy armoured vehicles, hardened fortifications, and dismounted soldiers.
? Are you saying that Trophy APS is fitted to all our AFVs? It isn’t currently fitted to any in-service British AFV
Interesting story this one. £40 million is a lot of money to spend on heavy machine guns.
I think £40 million should ensure 10-20k browning HMGs are repaired, revamped and kept in pristine condition. That’s a lot of weapons and firepower.
I very much doubt that we have 10,000 to 20,000 Browning M2 HMGs.
Herstal or FN definitely a leading company in their field so no issues there. My biggest issue is they are Belgian owned. Given the flip flopping at a political whim of late with their government in relation to export licences for submarine builds. They have no real army of their own and live in the Nato umbrella. There have been other times in the past where they have not been good partners. I think Slade Green will probably be the main site involved. What if for instance firing pins or extractors made in Belgium or not released because the Belgian Parliament don’t want to on a whim. It could be any small component that renders the weapons unserviceable. They have a track record. Is security of supply guarantees worth the paper they are written on.
Genuine question… £40 million of taxpayers money for what exactly?
Man alive I’m reading this on my phone and by god the adverts make it almost unreadable