Article content

The Canadian government is buying a little more than 3,600 machine guns to replace aging weapons in its stocks.

An earlier batch of new machine guns have already been delivered to some of the troops.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or New batch of machine guns for Canadian military to be delivered in December Back to video

For this latest contract, the government is purchasing 3,626 new C6A1 FLEX General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) from Colt Canada of Kitchener, ON. First deliveries of this batch of new GPMGs are anticipated in December 2020, with final deliveries in July 2023, the Department of National Defence noted in a news release. The value of the contract is $96.97 million but that includes taxes.

The guns feature a durable polymer butt stock instead of the current wooden style, according to the Department of National Defence.

Additionally, soldiers will be able to attach pointing devices and optical sighting systems to the new weapon to help increase their operational effectiveness.

The General Purpose Machine Gun usually sells to military forces for around $13,000. The DND says the cost for this purchase is around double because other gear and spare parts are being bought at the same time. “The total acquisition is 8,790 items, which includes 3,626 C6s and over 5,000 supplementary items, including a variety of spare parts, cleaning and repair kits, (and) slings to carry the GPMG,” DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier noted.