Howitzer deal

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has ordered 62 M777 howitzers from BAE Systems in a deal worth $117m (£71m).

Mike Smith, managing director at the company’s Global Combat Systems business, said that the purchase of the howitzers meant another six months’ work for the company’s production facilities in Barrow-in-Furness and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, taking manufacturing on current sales well into 2012.

The order, signed on 16 July, follows one placed by the DoD in May for 63 guns and a related small support contract for the Hattiesburg facility.

The prime contract management of the M777 programme and manufacture and assembly of the complex titanium structures and associated recoil components are undertaken at Barrow-in-Furness in the UK.

BAE Systems’ facility in Hattiesburg is responsible for final integration and test of the weapon system.