155mm Naval Gun for U.K. , By BAE

The possibility of British warships firing 155mm artillery is a step closer to reality after an announcement from BAE Systems that it has signed a deal with the Ministry of Defence to build a gun to undertake land-based firing trials next year.CORDA, BAE's consulting arm, together with the company's Land Systems business in Britain and defense research company QinetiQ, hope to start live-firing trials in fall 2009 with a 155mm naval gun based on the British Army's AS90 self-propelled howitzer system.BAE said it is also exploiting the capabilities of other company business units such as Armament Systems in the U.S. and Bofors in Sweden.

The Armament Systems division is already in the latter stages of developing a similar system for the U.S. Navy - the 155mm Advanced Gun System destined for the force's DDG 1000 destroyer program.

No more than two DDG 1000s are likely to be built rather than the seven planned, but the AGS could find its way onto up-rated Arleigh Burke DDG-51 destroyers likely to be built in their place.

If the 4 million pound ($7.55 million) British contract goes according to plan, BAE hopes to move to a full technology demonstrator program ahead of possible retrofitting of the gun to existing Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers, as well as an upcoming generation of warships known as the Future Surface Combatant.

This latest contract is the third phase of work that kicked off in 2006 as part of a three-year MoD research program known as Maritime Surface Effects. Eight different study programs are looking at issues such as coastal suppression, naval fire support, offensive and defensive surface warfare, and the role of unmanned surface vehicles.

BAE said in a statement that replacing the current 4.5-inch gun with a 155mm system would increase the range and effect on targets while also reducing costs by using the same gun and ammunition as the British Army.