Howitzer millions

BAE Systems has been awarded an $834 million dollar contract for full-rate production of the M777A1 lightweight 155mm howitzer.

Under the production contract, issued by the US Joint Program Office, BAE Systems will manufacture 495 howitzers over the next four years.

The M777A1 was designed and developed by BAE Systems in the UK, and is a joint program between the Army and Marine Corps to replace the M198 towed howitzer.

The M777A1 is the first ground combat system to make extensive use of titanium and titanium castings, which reduces the weight of the howitzer by 7,000 lbs. The lightweight howitzer can be transported by Marine Corps MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft and airdropped by C-130 aircraft.

The lightweight howitzer program is currently in low rate initial production after the company received a contract in November 2002 to manufacture 94 howitzers. The LRIP units were used during operational testing at Twentynine Palms, CA, in October 2004. During the four-week joint Army-Marine Corps test, nearly 12,000 artillery rounds were fired by four production howitzers. The operational test verified the weapon was reliable and met or exceeded all of its operational requirements.