The German company Rheinmetall announced on 29 October that it has received an order to produce and deliver 40mm practice ammunition for the U.S. Marine Corps.

According to a Rheinmetall’s statement, the United States Marine Corps has just contracted with Rheinmetall to produce and deliver 40mm practice ammunition.

The ammunition, specifically the 40mm x 53 MK281 MOD3 High Velocity Practice Day/Night Marking Cartridge, will be produced in Camden, Arkansas and shipped from American Rheinmetall Munitions (ARM), a Rheinmetall subsidiary based in Stafford, Virginia.

Total order volume amounts to $59 million (€51 million). Now booked, the initial order volume is worth $25 million (€21.7 million). Production will commence no later than the third quarter of 2019; annual delivery volume is expected to be as high as 700,000 cartridges.

Rheinmetall‘s MK281 is a non-dud producing, non-toxic training cartridge fired from an MK19 machine gun. The cartridges use unique target marking technologies that enable both day and night training. The MK281 design reduces customer costs by eliminating unexploded ordnance and range fires. Furthermore, it permits users to practice fire-and-manoeuvre operations in a safe, dud-free environment.

ARM has been producing and supplying first-class, high-performance practice and service ammunition for American military and law enforcement customers for over a decade.