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.

U.S. Army tests prototype .50-Cal. gun

The U.S. Army Soldier Weapons Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has ordered three prototypes of a first-of-its-kind lightweight .50-cal. machine gun that fires with less recoil force and can be carried more easily in rough terrain than the Army's current .50-caliber weapon.

Dubbed LW for lightweight and made by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (ATP), the 38-pound gun weighs less than half as much as the 82-pound M2 and incorporates a host of technologies designed to improve accuracy.

The gun uses impulse averaging, so it doesn't come to a hard stop. With an M2 today, user would have to take eye away from the sight because it would shake.

For several years now, the U.S Army has been working with industry in an effort to develop lightweight .50-caliber weapons. The LW .50-cal. is intended to be mounted quickly on light vehicles' Common Remote Weapons Station, a turret controlled remotely by soldiers with a joystick and video screen. The M2, a combat fixture for 70 years, will not be replaced.

The Army has ordered three prototypes from GD ATP for testing, which could lead to orders for thousands of the weapons.

The LW 50 has 250 pounds of recoil force, one-quarter that of the M2; has fixed head space and timing; and fires 200 to 300 rounds per minute up to 2,000 meters, Army and GD ATP officials said.The gun was recently test-fired by Special Operations Forces (SOCom).

In coming months, SOCom and Army evaluators will test the three prototype LW 50s at a GD ATP facility. The company will refine the design to incorporate lessons and customer input.Low-rate initial production is scheduled for 2011.