The Liège-based arms manufacturer FN Browning has signed a 10-year contract with the British Army to modernise and maintain its heavy machine guns. The contract that was announced on Thursday is worth more than 23 million euro.
The deal concerns the FN M2HB-QCB. This is the latest version of the Browning M2 machine gun that was originally designed more than a century ago after the First World War. Through its subsidiary FN UK, FN Browning will take the modernisation and the long-term maintenance of the machine guns for the British Army and Navy.
All the work done for the British armed forces will be carried out at FN UK’s site in the English county of Kent. This is the UK’s only machine gun factory. The company says that the new contract will both held to secure existing jobs and create additional employment at the site.
The FN Browning Group is owned by the Walloon regional authorities. It was taken into public ownership in 1997. In addition to its sites in Belgium, it also has production facilities in the UK, the US, Portugal and Finland. The FN Browning Group employs over 3,000 people worldwide.