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09 Apr 15. Algeria to get another 360 upgraded BMPs. Russia’s KBP Instrument Design Bureau has started to fulfil the second part of a contract to upgrade Algerian BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), according to Vladimir Popov, the director general of the KBP subsidiary Shcheglovsky Val. “Previously, more than 400 upgraded BMP-1s were delivered to Algeria,” Popov told the TASS news agency. “KBP has started to carry out the second part of the contract, which is of the same size, about 360 combat vehicles.” The contract is expected to be completed in the next two or three years. Popov said the BMP-1s are being upgraded with the Berezhok combat module, which is armed with four 9M133 Kornet-E anti-tank guided missiles and an AGS-30 30mm automatic grenade launcher in addition to the 30mm 2A42 main gun used on the BMP-2 IFV and the standard PKT 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. The Berezhok upgrade also includes a new fire-control system and optics. The modernisation of the BMP-1s is being carried out at an Algerian armour repair plant with the assistance of Russian technicians.
“The Berezhok combat module demonstrated it is best in the environmental conditions of Algeria. This country successfully uses the upgraded BMP-1s,” said Popov.
He added that the upgrade package is being offered to the Russian Armed Forces to improve the combat capabilities of its BMP-2s.
“An automatic tracking device and ability to launch anti-tank missiles in salvo mode are the features of the combat module,” said Popov. “The cost-efficiency characteristics of the upgraded BMP-2 are very impressive and its combat potential is increased by several times, so a new-generation IFV can be obtained for a relatively insignificant price.” (Source: IHS Jane’s)
02 Apr 15. US Marine Corps releases ACV 1.1 solicitation. The Marine Corps on Monday published an updated solicitation for its future amphibious vehicle, which is designed to replace the aging fleet of Amphibious Assault Vehicles in service since the 1970s. The solicitation for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle 1.1 outlines the service’s requirements for what should be just the first in a line of future amphibious vehicles that will carry Marines ashore and transport them inland. ACV 1.1 has met criticism because it will likely be a displacement hull vehicle, meaning it bobs through the water at a low-rate of speed. Some say that makes it ineffective in an age when Navy ships deploying Marines ashore must remain up to 100 miles off shore to guard against shore-based missiles. But the Marine Corps has ferociously defended the ACV whose published request for proposal calls for a wheeled vehicle leaders argue is well suited to move quickly across land where the majority of missions will take place. Envisioned as an eight-wheeled vehicle costing up to $7.5m each, it would seat at least 10 Marines and their combat loads and handle 2-foot waves. Earlier attempts to replace the AAV failed after immense cost and schedule overruns. Those efforts included the defunct Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, in development since the 1980s, which could plane across water at a high rate of speed, but ultimately fell victim to budget cuts and program delays. Under the updated RFP, the Marine Corps will likely award multiple contracts. Top competitors include SAIC, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics Land Systems and BAE Systems. The immediate plan calls for outfitting six battalions with 200 ACVs by 2023, and modernizing enough AAVs to outfit another four battalions. That would give the service the ability to put 10 battalions ashore during a forcible entry operation. Later versions of the ACV will offer more robust capabilities including more internal capacity and possibly even high water speed as the service once sought in the EFV. (Source: Defense News)
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