Coast Guard Cutter Stratton fires its MK 110 during a gunnery exercise in the Bering Sea April 28, 2021. U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy Ensign Molly Dolan.

The Royal Navy has chosen the BAE Bofors 57mm Mk3 to arm a new class, the Mk31 general purpose Frigates. This is the same gun that arms National Security Cutters (NSCs) and Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) and which will arm the Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) and the new Constellation class guided missile frigates.

UK based Navy Lookout has published an independent evaluation of the weapon and its ammunition. This is almost two years old, but it is well done. It makes some good points discussing the both the advantages and limitations of the weapon. I would point out that they note, “The days of medium calibre guns being used against other ships are long gone…” It is adequate for signaling by firing across the bow and for engaging small craft, but maybe we might want to think about adding a weapon suitable for use against ships since that should be part of even our peacetime skill set.

Unfortunately, their hopes for the “Multi- Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System” (MAD-FIRES) guided round will not be realized. It seems the MAD-FIRES round was a non-starter. I checked both the Raytheon/RTX and the DARPA websites and neither had any mention of MAD-FIRES. I thought perhaps the MAD-FIRES program had failed when Northop Grumman was awarded a contract to develop a maneuvering 57mm round, but even in that case, it was intended for use against “fast moving surface threats, drones and swarming threats” not cruise missiles as was the case for MAD-FIRES.