Tracks & tyres centre stage: the medium armoured vehicle world has been dominated over the past year by the British Army's long-running Future Rapid Effects System (Fres) programme and the unprecedented effort by the US Department of Defense to rush new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (Mrap} vehicles to Iraq to protect personnel from the threat of improvised explosive devices.

Summary

---

Complete Guide

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Tracks & tyres centre stage: the medium armoured vehicle world has been dominated over the past year by the British Army's long-running Future Rapid Effects System (Fres) programme and the unprecedented effort by the US Department of Defense to rush new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (Mrap} vehicles to Iraq to protect personnel from the threat of improvised explosive devices.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The British Fres project to procure 3775 medium weight armoured vehicles at a projected cost of 16 billion [pounds sterling] is Europe's largest armoured fight vehicle (AFV) project. Under the present Fres strategy three vehicle families, with commonality at the systems level, will be fielded. With a combat weight of between 25 and 30 tonnes the Utility Variant (UV) will be the most numerous. A tracked platform of between 20 and 25 tonnes is expected to be selected for the reconnaissance role and a 30- to 40-tonne tracked chassis will be used for direct fire, indirect fire, engineer and other roles.

On 7 June 2007 Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support Lord Drayson announced that three 8 x 8 vehicles had been short-listed for the UV requirement: the Artec Boxer, the Mowag Piranha V and the Nexter VBCI (Vehicule Blinde de Combat d'Infanterie). Each manufacturer provided a single unit of their candidate vehicle, with a modified Piranha IV known as the Piranha Evolution standing in for the yet-to-be-completed Piranha V, for a three month 'Trials of Truth' competitive evaluation.

Britain withdrew from the Boxer programme in 2003 because the British Army believed the vehicle, designed to be airlifted by the Airbus Military A400M strategic transport aircraft, was too heavy for its future needs. Experience in Iraq since 2003 resulted in a renewed emphasis on armour protection and the army dropped its earlier requirement for a Fres vehicle light enough to be carried by the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

With little fanfare the Ministry of Defence awarded two assessment phase contracts in October 2007 to examine the potential of the BAE Systems CV90 and General Dynamics Ascod tracked infantry fighting vehicles to meet the Fres reconnaissance vehicle requirement.

The need to provide better protection against roadside bombs is the raison d'etre behind the American Mrap programme. In January 2007 the US Department of Defense launched the programme, with the US Marine Corps Systems Command as the lead agency, to field purpose-built armoured vehicles to replace uparmoured AM General Hummers in Iraq. The Department of Defense classifies Mrap vehicles into three categories:

* category I consists of Mine Resistant Utility Vehicles able to accommodate up to six personnel and are primarily intended for use in urban operations

* category II contains multi-mission vehicles able to carry up to ten personnel

* category III vehicles are the specialist types used for route clearance and explosive ordnance disposal missions. The only vehicle in this category is the Force Protection 6 x 6 Buffalo. By the end of May 2007 the Buffalos had completed more than one million hours on active service without occupants suffering any fatalities.

As no one contractor could meet the short timeline, which requires the production of more than 1200 vehicles per month, Marcosyscaom has awarded contracts to seven of the nine companies that submitted vehicles for evaluation. The seven Mrap 1 prime contractors are: Armor Holdings (acquired by BAE Systems in 2007) for Category I and II Caiman vehicles, BAE Systems with the Category I RG-33 and Category II RG-33L, Force Protection Industries with Category I Cougar H, Category II Cougar HE and Category III Buffalo vehicles, General Dynamics Land Systems--Canada covering Category II RG31 vehicles, International Military and Government for Category 1 MaxxPro and Category II MaxxPro XLs, Oshkosh Truck Corporation in partnership with Protected Vehicles for the Alpha and Protected Vehicles with the Golan. More than 8000 Mrap 1 vehicles were on order by the end of October and evaluations were underway on Mrap 2 vehicles designed to provide better protection against explosively formed penetrators. The programme could lead to the delivery of 20,000 vehicles (Armada will cover the new generation of 4 x 4 armoured vehicles, including Mrap designs, in issue 3, June/July 2008).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The need for protection against roadside bombs is influencin...

See the full content of this document

---