By Ann Roosevelt
Alliant Techsystems [ATK] and FN Manufacturing LLC (FNMI) said Sept. 30 they have received a $53.4 million contract to produce Mk19 Mod-3 Grenade Machine Guns (GMG).
This will be the first crew-served weapon system manufactured by ATK, marking a significant milestone in the company’s strategy to broaden its armament systems business.
“The cannons that we have made up to this point have been cannon systems that go in manned turrets, like the Apache helicopter, and there’s a huge market segment in these crew served weapons,” Jim Cates, ATK general manager for medium caliber systems division, Mesa, Ariz., told Defense Daily in an interview. “In the context of the gun market place, that’s a large segment of the marketplace that up to this point ATK has never participated in. So having the opportunity now to have a gun in that market segment opens up customer access that we haven’t had in the past.”
The contract, from the Army Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command, Picatinny Arsenal, N. J., also will expand ATK’s existing portfolio of medium-caliber gun systems beyond its battle-proven chain guns.
ATK and FNMI teamed to provide the Army a low-risk and best value systems solution for the Mk19 GMG program. ATK has assembled independent supply chains and manufacturing entities with dedicated capacity to meet program schedule and delivery requirements.
“FN is one of the premier gun manufacturers in the world and has past experience in weapons like the Mk19, he said. As we were looking for someone to partner with for the Mk19, they were the logical choice because of their expertise in making these kinds of weapons, the fact that they have a U.S. manufacturing capability and it was just the logical choice for us.”
ATK will lead a proven and reliable industry team that combines world-class systems integration experience with small- and medium-caliber weapon manufacturing expertise of key subcontractors and suppliers.
In addition to its role as systems integrator, ATK will perform barrel manufacture, gun assembly and test operations.
FNMI will provide gun sub-assemblies. Work on the Mk19 will be performed by ATK at its facility in Mesa, Ariz.
The Mk19 is a weapon in the U.S. military inventory for decades, Cates said.
The Army is moving toward having multiple source suppliers. Thus, ATK and FNMI provide another production source for the weapon traditionally bought from General Dynamics [GD].
A kick-off meeting will be held a couple of weeks from now, then the program moves out, he said.
ATK will build to print the government-owned Mk19 design, and will take the provided technical data package and build the system, Cates said. It will take about a year for the first test article to come off the line. A small number will be built and provided to the Army for first article testing. When that is successfully completed, the weapon will be approved for production.
ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 17,000 employees in 21 states and approximately $4.6 billion in revenue.
FNMI is a precision manufacturer specializing in the production of small arms weapons for the U.S. military and law enforcement markets. FNMI is a subsidiary of FN Herstal, S.A., and part of the Belgium-based Herstal Group, the global leaders in small arms design and production.