BACKGROUND

The 57mm Mk110 Naval Gun System is a medium-caliber, multimission shipboard weapon. Based on the company’s Bofors Mk3 gun, the Mk110 has a firing rate of 220 rounds per minute and can engage and quickly defeat threats out to nine miles, including small boats, antiship cruise missiles and aircraft.

SCOPE

The Mk110 was selected as the main battery for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), and the Coast Guard’s Bertholf-class National Security Cutter and Offshore Patrol Cutter, as well as secondary battery for the DDG-1000 destroyer. BAE Systems expects orders for up to 140 Mk110s during the next 10 years for a total potential value of more than $1 billion.

TIMELINE

Testing of the Mk110 has been completed. Northrop Grumman accepted its first Mk110 for the Bertholf-class cutter in December 2005 and will receive a second in December 2006. Lockheed Martin received the first Mk110 for the Navy’s Freedom-class LCS in March. A second will be delivered in December to General Dynamics for the Independence-class LCS and a third for Lockheed Martin has been authorized. An order for four guns for the DDG-1000 is expected in mid-2007.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Scott Thompson, program director for the Mk110 system, has been with BAE Systems for more than 20 years, and was involved with the Mk41 vertical-launch system program.

”From our perspective, the Mk110 truly is a gun system, not just a gun and not just a bullet but a system that will perform the desired effect on the target sets of the new Coast Guard cutter, the LCS and the DDG-1000.

What’s important is the effect on the target. It’s really how much explosive you put on a target and not the size of the individual round. Because of its effectiveness and its high rate of fire, the 57mm Mk110 can put as many or more explosives on target than, for example, a 76mm gun.

This division is a lot different than what we used to be. We’re a lot more into systems engineering and very much into ammunition, a key part of our business now. Bofors [the Swedish gun maker acquired by BAE in 2005 as part of its purchase of United Defense] brought to us their significant history in the munitions side of the business and created the 3P (prefragmented, programmable, proximity) round. The mission can be programmed into the round’s fuze. With a round that can handle several different types of missions, you have a great deal of flexibility against any type of threat.

The only other type of round is the Training/Practice round used for warning or disabling shots. If you have suspected hostile situation, you can switch from a Training/Practice round to an active 3P round in less than a second.

We need to continue to find ways to reduce the cost of this gun. This whole large-scale integration environment is challenging a lot of people — in government and industry — and it’s creating much more of a commercial environment. We have to take on a lot more risk than we have traditionally done.”