British to upgrade AS90 guns

LONDON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Defense announced it has contracted Germany-based Gesellschaft fur Intelligente Wirksysteme for ballistic sensor fused munitions.

British officials say the GIWS contract is an effort to upgrade the army's current AS90 guns with greater long-range capabilities against hostile armored vehicles in a variety of environmental scenarios.

The new BSFMs, expected to enter service in 2011, "consist of a shell that can be fired from the AS90 artillery gun. Munitions drop by parachute, using sensors to seek out enemy targets as they drift down. This new smart technology will enable the artillery to target the enemy with much greater accuracy and will greatly reduce collateral damage," the release said.

"I am pleased to announce the contract award for the development and supply of Ballistic Sensor Fused Munitions. We are equipping our army with the precision attack weapons to meet the challenges of modern operations," Baroness Ann Taylor, British minister for defense equipment and support, said in a statement.

"New technology is allowing us to use highly accurate, precisely targeted weapons, reducing both the numbers of weapons we need to deploy and the risk of collateral damage."