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04 Nov 11. BAE Systems will provide two vital inputs for the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme:
* Its Anglo-French joint venture with Nexter Systems, CTA International, has designed a revolutionary new 40mm cannon and ammunition for this and the FRES Scout programmes. The UK Ministry of Defence mandated this weapon system for both programmes in March 2008.
* BAE Systems’ Munitions business will produce the ammunition for the CT40 cannon under licence.
In addition BAE Systems will continue to provide support to Warrior in the form of maintenance, repair, upgrade and integration work. A major £30m armour and mobility upgrade it delivered earlier this year for Afghan service follows many earlier upgrades.
Charlie Blakemore, managing director of BAE Systems Global Combat Systems said: “We are committed to supporting CTA International in designing the cannon and ammunition to provide unmatched lethality on this class of vehicle, and enable the Warrior to continue serving in its vital role well into the future. In addition we offer our thirty years of experience in the design, development, support and upgrade of Warrior to help ensure a smooth integration of new systems onto the vehicle and give our troops the kit they need.”
The CTA International 40mm Cased Telescoped Cannon and Ammunition will give Warrior an accurate fire-on-the-move capability for the first time and give the vehicle a battle-winning capability unmatched by any other weapon system of equivalent size. (At less than 500yards, then watch it wobble! Ed). An £80m qualification and demonstration programme is now well under way and will ensure the system works reliably in the most extreme environments it will face in service. It is expected to be completed by May 2013 to give a production-ready system. BAE Systems and Nexter have invested £40m each in the programme since the early 1990s and the UK MoD and its French DGA equivalent have contributed £10m each. CTA International is also expected to provide its weapon system for the French EBRC scout vehicle programme. BAE Systems (through its acquisition of GKN) won a contract to produce Warrior in 1980 and the company has extensively upgraded the vehicle over the years to improve protection, mobility and reliability. BAE Systems has developed and produced over 70 UOR (Urgent Operational Requirement) modifications for Warrior to prepare it for operations in Kosovo, Iraq and now Afghanistan. These were designed mainly to enhance protection to the vehicle crews in the face of rapidly-changing threats and to better meet harsh local environmental conditions.
BATTLESPACE Comment: It is time that the truth about CTA be revealed. One is that no one else apart from France and the UK want it, thus it will not be NATO Standard ammunition. Secondly and more importantly a 40mm munition is a 40mm munition whether it is in or out of the case. The only way CTA proved that the canon had more lethality than the Bushmaster 44 was to put more propellant in the ‘beer can’ than ATK’s standard round. Whilst this proved the point it lessened accuracy given that there is no drive band to engage and the barrel wear was huge given the wear of the propellant. Thus CTA had to reduce the weight of propellant and thus the lethality dropped to the same level as the Bush 44.
02 Nov 11. U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh said Nov. 2 that his service will still consider buying Germany’s Puma in place of the Ground Combat Vehicle, a $40bn program to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. McHugh made his comments while the Ground Combat Vehicle program remains frozen after a defense team led by SAIC Inc. filed a protest Aug. 26 against the Army’s decision to issue technology development contracts to defense teams headed by General Dynamics and BAE Systems. The U.S. Army surpr