To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the full scope of Project Cairns is; and what the (a) specific technical requirements and (b) core characteristics of the project are as laid out to the defence industry.

Project CAIRNS is not a project of record at this time, however, it will seek to replace the L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) upon reaching its Out of Service Date. The Project envisages replacing the GPMG’s roles across both Light and Medium Machine Gun areas. The current GPMG remains a world leading, highly effective and lethal machine gun, operated across Defence.