Web Page sponsored by MILLBROOK
Millbrook, based in Bedfordshire, UK, makes a significant contribution to the quality and performance of military vehicles worldwide. Its specialist expertise is focussed in two distinct areas: test programmes to help armed services and their suppliers ensure that their vehicles and systems work as the specification requires; and design and build work to upgrade new or existing vehicles, evaluate vehicle capability and investigate in-service failures. Complementing these is driver and service training and a hospitality business that allows customers to use selected areas of Millbrook’s remarkable facilities for demonstrations and exhibitions.
Tel: +44 (0) 1525 408408
www.millbrook.co.uk/military
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17 Feb 11. Whilst bemoaning the loss of the Scout order to GDUK and the Warrior WFLIP business to Lockheed, BAE Systems is quietly getting on with producing Warriors for UK UORs. In its results (see below), ’The vehicles business received Readiness & Sustainment contracts from the UK
MoD, valued at £30m, for the design, production and embodiment of upgrade kits for 78 British Army Warrior infantry fighting vehicles.’ Could this signal that the MoD is looking at the UOR route for Warrior and will quietly slip WCSP and install a stabilized gun if and when CTA passes qualifications. Also the 78 number is remarkably close to the 75 required for Scout which signifies the possibility of GDUKs Programme being a TDP with the technology flowing to Warrior?
21 Feb 11. The New Zealand (NZ) Army has unveiled its new JCB high-mobility engineer excavator (HMEE), which will operate alongside the army’s NZLAV armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) at the Trentham Military Camp. The HMEE is a highly mobile excavator with a top speed of 90km/h, designed with increased protection to survive on the modern battlefield.
The vehicle’s armour allows operators to survive mine and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. The HMEE is also operational in the US and British Armies, and has been effective alongside other armoured vehicles in high-threat environments. (Source: armytechnology.com)
21 Feb 11. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Daimler AG signed a service contract in Munich/Wörth today for the maintenance and repair of Mercedes-Benz trucks and G-models on international deployments of the German armed forces and their allies. Under the terms of the contract, KMW is to provide technical support in the field for all military vehicles from the Wörth-based truck manufacturer which are deployed on international missions of NATO, the EU and the UN. This will substantially alleviate the workload for armed forces such as the German army in Afghanistan, enabling them to focus on their essential military tasks. KMW already possesses extensive experience in the maintenance and repair of armoured wheeled and tracked vehicles in crisis regions. A comprehensive service network throughout the relevant areas in Afghanistan or Kosovo, for example, with the company’s own service personnel and its own repair facilities at the allied forces’ camps, ensures the high availability of the urgently required vehicles.
21 Feb 11. The US Army has introduced modular, add-on armour capability to its heavy tactical trucks fleet, which includes the new M915-A5 line-haul tractor, palletised load system PLS-A1 and heavy equipment transporter HET-A1. The modular armour capability, explained as an A-kit plus B-kit solution, will allow quick incorporation of newer, potentially lighter-weight armour composites according to the requirement of the threat environment. The US Army G-8 director of force development Major General Tom Spoehr said the vehicles will have growth potential as they will be able to accept new armoury as technology progresses. The add-on armour capability for medium and heavy tactical vehicles is part of the US Army’s