Textron Systems Unmanned Systems’ Light Armaments team will continue to develop lightweight, Cased-Telescoped (CT) weapons and ammunition, having received further funding for the work from the US Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium and the US Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center.
The two-year $5.7 million contract will see the team develop a CT carbine, as well as 7.62mm CT ammunition and a machine gun operating mechanism. The CT ammunition is designed with a plastic casing to significantly reduce weight while retaining the performance of conventional ammunition.
The Textron Systems Light Armaments team developed the 5.56mm CT Light Machine Gun under the Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) programme. Providing up to a 40 percent, or 20lb, weight reduction over current technology, the LSAT Light Machine Gun and 5.56mm CT ammunition have been demonstrated at Technology Readiness Level 7. According to the company they improve lethality and reliability.
Building on this work, the team has created a family of lightweight, 5.56mm CT weapons. This includes a compact Light Machine Gun with a quick-change, 12-inch barrel and folding buttstock, developed for close-quarters applications, as well as the operating mechanism for a carbine variant. The team also has developed a caseless ammunition design, which aims to provide even greater weight reduction versus current technology.
The company intends to leverage prior designs to extend CT weapon and ammunition technologies to additional calibres and weapon configurations on the new programme.
The new Bushmasters will be used by the Australian Army’s second long-range fires regiment, to be based at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct in South Australia as part of the 10th Fires Brigade.
The British Army’s Land Mobility Programme (LMP) has struggled to make it to competition but there are hopes progress will be made this year.
The aid stations are designed to be mounted onto trucks, such as the Rheinnetall HX family of vehicles, and will be in ballistic protected and unprotected versions.
The contract is for transmissions for the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center (JSMC) in Lima, Ohio for new tanks and overhaul and repair activities at Anniston Army Depot.
Jerusalem’s air defence capabilities procurement efforts will receive up to $190 million.
In the medium-term Lithuania has committed US$1.3 billion which includes Javelin ant-tank missiles, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs), Black Hawk helicopters, missile systems and missiles.
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