An undisclosed number of illumination shells for 105mm artillery guns are to be produced by BAE Systems under a British Ministry of Defense contract.

The value of the contract for L43A5 rounds is about $28 million, the company said. Series production starts immediately, with the rounds being delivered this year through 2016.

Final assembly of the illumination shells will take place at BAE Systems' facility in Karlskoga, Sweden.

"This award builds on more than 45 years of 105mm illuminating shell development," said Lena Gillström, managing director of BAE Systems Weapon Systems, Sweden. "Variants of the 105mm illuminating shell have been used by multiple armed forces around the world and continues to be one of the best solutions to meet a 105mm illuminating artillery shell capability."

BAE Systems says that once production under this contract is completed, the company would have delivered more than 60,000 white and infrared 105mm rounds for the British military.