DSEI 2025: BDT UK publishes its strategy for delivering Project Grayburn

Beretta Defence Technologies UK (BDT UK) used the opportunity of the DSEI 2025 defence exhibition to publish its industrial strategy for delivering Project Grayburn: the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) initiative to replace the UK armed forces’ L85A3 (SA80) individual service weapons.

The project is expected to deliver somewhere between 150,000 and 180,000 new rifles in total, in time to start replacing SA80 weapons being withdrawn from around 2040 to 2050. However, the MoD will also have to consider, in consultation with its NATO allies, whether a change in calibre should be effected under the project to move away from the 5.56×45 mm NATO cartridge used by the SA80. Various options between 6 mm and 7 mm have been proferred as potential future alternative calibres to achieve an optimum balance between range, lethality, weight and recoil.

BDT UK is proposing two candidate weapons for the requirement from the portfolio of BDT’s international group of holding companies: the New Assault Rifle Platform (NARP) from Italy’s Beretta and the ARG40 assault rifle from Finland’s Sako.

In the executive summary of its strategy document BDT UK states, “Project Grayburn is more than a rifle procurement programme; it is the catalyst for a long-term strategic partnership between Defence and BDT UK, establishing the foundations for a sovereign small arms capability.”

Within its 26-page strategy document it is clear that BDT has done its homework. For example, depicted in a graph is the full spectrum of possibilities from a purely off-the-shelf procurement, which would require the least capital expenditure from the MoD but offer nothing in terms of UK industrial participation, all the way through to a programme that would produce 100% UK-made weapons to a total of 177,137 units delivered. The graph gives figures for unit price, total capital expenditure and total UK employment across this range, while also taking into account production rates from 0-10,000, 10,000 to 20,000 and 20,000-30,000 weapons delivered per year. An 80% UK-made solution would deliver all components apart from the barrel, which has to be cold hammer forged and is thus the most complicated component of the weapon to manufacture.

BDT’s strategy has not been delivered in isolation. As Jack Cadman, law enforcement and military group manager at BDT, explained to ESD at DSEI 2025 on 10 September, an initial version of the strategy was presented to the British Army in July 2025.

“We had a really honest conversation, which was great for us. and they said, ‘Great work on Grayburn, but what we think you’re missing is the fact that this is a foundation for a strategic partnership. We see an organic small arms industry being in the UK with a hub, but we see Grayburn as the kickstart to create a wider portfolio of weapons being delivered in the UK.”

BDT consequently took this feedback into account to produce the industrial strategy it presented on 10 September.

In terms of how the project moves ahead, Cadman said he expects 2026 to see funding lines confirmed and an effective go-ahead for programme, with an indication of when the competition dates will be coming perhaps in late 2026, while an actual contract award is more likely in 2028.

BDT’s industrial strategy for Project Rayburn, however, warns that, should the UK MoD opt for a fully UK-made weapon, the timeline for that would be 72 months to go from the decision and a contract to full 100% UK production.

“Let’s say the MoD make that decision and say, ‘Okay, we want a fully made UK weapon system’, we would still need to phase the implementation of it,” Cadman explained. “So the first year of delivery would be a fully furnished weapon from Beretta or Sako. The next year it would be what’s called knock down, so the parts are made in Italy or Finland and we assemble it here, test and evaluate here, and then phase three [would be 100% UK production].

“But the key point is to get from decision to delivery of a fully UK-made weapon is 72 months,” Cadman added, “so the MoD need to get a move on.”