On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) in Newark, New Jersey, acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, signed a contract worth 145,830,000 USD with BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP of Minneapolis, Minnesota (part of BAE Systems Inc.) for the production of M776 rifled barrels for M777A2 ultralight 155 mm/L39 towed howitzers.
The barrel, officially designated Cannon, 155 Millimeter Howitzer: M776, will be produced at Watervliet Arsenal in New York State / Photo: John B. Snyder, U.S. Army
This modification increases the value of the base contract to 462,770,000 USD and extends the completion date to March 31, 2031. The contract is directly linked to the resumption of M777A2 howitzer production in 2024, when the first batch of titanium major structures for these guns was ordered on January 4.
Then, on April 15 of the same year, the contract was increased to 162 million USD, and BAE Systems confirmed the start of production work in the United Kingdom and the United States. Later, on November 15, 2024, BAE Systems officially announced that it was restarting M777A2 production in new facilities in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Construction of the production line at the 8,743 m² plant cost approximately £25 million and increased employment by about 50 positions. Component production began in 2025.
Production was resumed after the delivery of 198 howitzers of this type from U.S. Army stocks, 4 from Canada, and 6 from Australia. According to the Dutch analytical group Oryx, which tracks Russian and Ukrainian losses based on photographic and video evidence, the Ukrainians have lost as many as 103 of them. As early as November 30, 2023, BAE Systems Inc. CEO Thomas Arseneault said in a press interview that restarting production of the guns was possible.
Photo: BAE Systems
At the same time, efforts were undertaken to improve the howitzers already in service by continuing the modernization of the digital fire-control system, including software-defined radios, mission computers, displays, and certain positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) hardware components.
As BAE Systems Inc. emphasizes, at roughly half the weight of other towed 155 mm howitzers, the M777 provides rapid-response capability and sufficient firepower. With more than 1,250 M777A1/A2s in service with the U.S. Army, Ukraine, Canada, Australia, and India, the M777 is the world’s only combat-proven lightweight 155 mm howitzer.
Serial production of the guns ended in 2018 with the completion of deliveries to India and the United States, but BAE Systems has continued marketing efforts since then, offering an ER (Extended Range) variant fitted with a longer barrel and a higher-capacity chamber.
However, the U.S. Army is currently seeking a successor to its M777A2s fielded by Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCTs), which is to be a wheeled self-propelled gun under the program codename SPH-M (Self-Propelled Howitzer Modernization).