Colt Defense Wins $126 Million ($126M) Contract to Produce M240B 7.62mm Machine Gun for U.S. Army

By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com

October 25, 2009
Updated on 10/26/09

Colt Defense, LLC (West Hartford, CT) recently took a little bite out of FN Herstal’s machine gun business by winning a $126,089,944.00 IDIQ U.S. Army contract for the M240B (a.k.a. M240 “Bravo”) 7.62×51mm NATO (7.62mm NATO) MMG/GPMG (Medium Machine Gun / General Purpose Machine Gun). The contract was awarded on September 25, 2009, and the estimated contract value is four (4) years.

Previous to that award, FN Herstal, a Belgian firm, had been the sole-source supplier of that weapon system for the U.S. Army. As far as DefenseReview is aware, this is Colt Defense’s first infantry machine gun contract for the U.S. military since World War II (WWII).   That, combined with the dollar amount, makes this contract award a pretty big get for Colt.

While being a bit too heavy for mobile infantry (dismounted infantry) use, the M240B machine gun is indeed an excellent, reliable machine gun, and is well suited for vehicle-borne and stationary infantry operations.  Enter the new M240L  (M240 “Lightweight”) variant that will shave some much-needed pounds off the M240B.  How many pounds?  We don’t know, yet.  Hopefully, a lot.

Editor’s Note: Hat tip to Daniel Watters for correcting us on Colt’s military machine gun production history and providing us with some info on the  M240L MMG/GPMG, in the “Comments” section, below. We’ve modified this article, accordingly.  Thanks, Daniel!

Here are the M240B contract award specifics from FedBizOpps.gov:

10–M240B Machine Gun, NSN: 1005-01-412-3129, P/N 12976814.Solicitation W56HZV09R0402.
Solicitation Number: W56HZV09D0175
Agency: Department of the Army
Office: U. S. Army Materiel Command
Location: U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (Warren)

* Notice Details
* Packages

* Original Synopsis
Sep 25, 2009
5:44 pm

Solicitation Number:
W56HZV09D0175

Notice Type:
Award Notice

Contract Award Date:
September 25, 2009

Contract Award Number:
W56HZV09D0175

Contract Award Dollar Amount:
126,089,944.00

Contract Line Item Number:
0001

Contractor Awardee:
Colt Defense, LLC, 547 New Park Ave, West Hartford, CT 06110-1336

Synopsis:
Added: Sep 25, 2009 5:44 pm
This is an IDIQ Contract With an Estimated 4 Year Contract Value of $126,089,944.00.

Additional Info:
TACOM-RI Point of Contact for this action.

Contracting Office Address:
TACOM - Warren Acquisition Center, ATTN: AMSTA-AQ-AMB, E Eleven Mile Road, Warren, MI 48397-5000

Point of Contact(s):
Suzanne McGregor, (309) 782-3088

TACOM - Warren Acquisition Center

General Information:

Notice Type:
Award Notice

Posted Date:
September 25, 2009

Response Date:
-
Archiving Policy:
Automatic, on specified date

Archive Date:
October 25, 2009

Original Set Aside:
N/A

Set Aside:
N/A

Classification Code:
10 — Weapons

NAICS Code:
332 — Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing/332994 — Small Arms Manufacturing

Company Contact Info:

Colt Defense LLC
547 New Park Ave
West Hartford, CT, 06110
800-241-2485 Toll Free
860-232-4489 Office
860-244-1442 Fax
http://www.colt.com/mil/home.asp Website