Article Posted on : - Sep 26, 2011

M789 HEDP 30 mm rounds being loaded into an AH-64D Longbow Apache. Photo: US Army.

MINNEAPOLIS (BNS): UK Mod has awarded $37 Million contract to ATK to provide lightweight (LW) 30mm ammunition for its troops.

The company will also provide the M788 TP (target practice) training round and the M789 High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) tactical round – to the United Kingdom's (UK) Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Both rounds will support the UK's fleet of AH-64 Apache Helicopters.

These two rounds make up ATK's family of LW30mm ammunition and were originally developed and fielded for the M230 automatic cannon and the AH-64 Attack helicopter.

The M789 HEDP round provides the accuracy and armor penetration capabilities necessary to effectively defeat today's threats, and the cost-effective, ballistically-matched M788 training rounds enable improved warfighter performance in active theaters around the globe.

ATK has produced more than 14 million LW30mm cartridges rounds since 1977.

ATK will begin the delivery of the ammunition to the UK Ministry of Defence by early 2012.