Project GRAYBURN: SA80 Rifle Replacement at GBP 2 Billion, on a Contract From 2029 to 2045
London, 23 October 2026
Key points
- The Ministry of Defence's National Armaments Director group published a preliminary market-engagement notice on 23 October for Project GRAYBURN, the future replacement of the SA80 family of weapons and "associated small-arms capability for UK Defence"
- Estimated value: GBP 2 billion including VAT, about GBP 1.67 billion without; estimated contract dates: 2 July 2029 to 31 March 2045
- The ministry says it is at an early stage of developing the requirement and "has not selected a preferred procurement route, delivery model, supplier, product or contractual structure"; scope, value and term are still being developed
- The industry day is invitation-only: registration closes at 17:00 GMT on 30 October, and engagement closes on 27 November; the notice estimates a tender notice on 2 July 2027
Britain has put a figure and a time frame on replacing the SA80 rifle, and says it has chosen neither a supplier nor a way of buying one.
The notice is a preliminary market-engagement notice under the Procurement Act 2023, not a call for competition, and taking part or not, it says, will not affect eligibility for a later procurement. The industry day runs in person and on Microsoft Teams, with presentations by the ministry and optional one-to-one sessions of up to 15 minutes that "will not be used to evaluate or down-select suppliers or solutions". The scope covers the SA80 family and associated small-arms capability, which leaves open how far beyond the rifle the contract reaches. The GBP 2 billion covers a term of almost 16 years and is provisional, so it says little about the price of a rifle.
A tender in mid-2027 and a contract in mid-2029 put GRAYBURN well outside the 2026 test this desk set in May. When FN Browning Group agreed in May to buy Accuracy International, the purchase was read as positioning for a GRAYBURN contest, and Großwald's dispatch named whether the competition would close inside 2026 as its test. The notice answers that: the ministry is still forming the requirement, and the contract term Signal No. 175 reported starts in mid-2029. FN's British footprint, through Manroy and, pending approval, Accuracy International, is an argument for a competition that has not been launched, and the notice names no shortlist. Until the tender notice appears, estimated for July 2027, no rifle is in the running.
Related · Project GRAYBURN, the SA80 replacement
