MASS partnership agreement signed by MOD to supply UK ammo

The MOD has agreed a $2 billion deal (which could rise to £3 billion depending on the amount ordered) with BAE Systems called the Munitions Acquisition – the Supply Solution (MASS) programme which is, initially, a 15 year programme to supply 80% of the general munitions used by the UK armed forces ranging from naval shells, artillery shells to small arms ammunition. So what does MASS actually mean, well it consists of a "capability charge" to cover fixed costs, pricing is insulated from commodity price increases (steel especially), and supply will be flexible to allow for "surge manufacture" (for when we get dragged into another pointless war).


Would you like some of the bullets back?

Performance will be monitored and there will be a system of rewards and penalties. BAE Systems will invest in the Royal Ordnance factories it bought in the late 1980s, some of the equipment dating back from the Second World War. BAE's Radway Green facility will be expanded to double capacity. Happily it is also "green", 18,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year will be reduced. Well the Army has always been green.