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16 Aug 13. Indian Army starts user trials of Arjun MK-II tank. The Indian Army has started user trials of the fully integrated, upgraded Arjun Mark II main battle tank (MBT) at the Pokharan Firing Range in Rajasthan, India. Indigenously manufactured by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) along with Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), the tank has been undergoing development trials for the past two years to validate the technologies integrated at different intervals for the army requirements, the Times of India reports. An unnamed DRDO official was quoted by the news agency as saying that the trials will, for the first time, simultaneously test all the tank’s modifications, including 16 major technologies. An upgraded version of Arjun I MBT, the Arjun Mark II tank features an improved long-range missile-firing capability, panoramic sight with night-vision, explosive reactive armour and an advanced air-defence gun to engage helicopters. Other modified features include an enhanced auxiliary power unit, improved gun barrels, a land navigation system, the commander’s panoramic sight with eye-safe laser range finder (LRF), a digital control harness, a new final drive, track and sprocket, as well as a warning system to fire smoke grenades to confuse enemy laser guidance. DRDO is expecting the army to place a contract for around 500 Arjun MK-IIs to make the tank cost-effective, production viable and continuous in terms of supply. A DRDO official said the army had asked for an advanced Arjun tank fitted with specified features and capabilities, but the order has to be increased to at least 500 units to make it viable for both the industry and the users. The user trials are scheduled to continue for the next few days. (Source: army-technology.com)
22 Aug 13. Defense News reported that in one of the dwindling number of domestic new build ground vehicle contracts available to the US defense industry, the US Special Operations Command awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems a contract worth at least $562m its Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 (GMV) program. The special ops command has said that it wants to buy 1,297 GMVs to replace the current 1,072 Humvee-based GMVs it has in its inventory. Defense News reported back in May that SOCOM had already planned to spend about $24m on the program in fiscal 2014 for the first 101 vehicles, at a price tag of at $245,000 per vehicle. Barring any protests, the loss will come as a bitter pill for current GMV-maker AM General and Navistar International, companies who are looking for more business at a time when the buys of Humvees and MRAPs have ended. Oshkosh Defense was eliminated from the competition in January, after which it filed a protest which was then withdrawn in April. Requirements documents released last year said that the GMV would have to weigh less than 7,000 pounds, have the ability to carry up to seven passengers and be transportable in an M/CH-47 Chinook helicopter. In the notice about the award, the government said that it plans on spending about $14m in already allocated fiscal 2012 and 2013 budgets for research, test and evaluation on the GMV. Final deliveries of all GMVs are expected to be complete by September 2020. SOCOM has also said that it’s in the market for an even smaller vehicle that could fit in the back of a V-22 Osprey. SOCOM released a request for proposals on April 5 for the program, which calls for a lightly armored vehicle that can roll out of the back of an Osprey and begin firing mounted weapons within 60 seconds. Funding for that program would kick off in the 2015 budget SOCOM officials announced this spring, and that industry has already started to submit i