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21 Jul 16. UK’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) moves forward. The UK’s MIV Programme reportedly took another step forward with reports that an RFI will be issued later in the year with Initial Gate in December. Information varies on the final structure of the Programme but an in-service vehicle is required which rules out Piranha 5. However there are also reports of an FMS straight buy of Strykers or a single MRAV Boxer. Teams lining up for MIV include Krauss-Maffei Nexter with VBCI and Boxer, GD with Stryker, STK with Terrex and Patria with AMV. Patria is looking for a UK Prime which could mirror their co-operation with BAE Systems in Australia. Numbers are expected to be up to 500 but sources suggest that budgetary restraints could mean an initial buy of 200 vehicles. In other news, reports that the UK may retain some Rarden-equipped Warriors is partially true. The Warriors will be used in the ABSV Role with the turrets retained but the Rarden cannon removed.
21 Jul 16. Thales Selects PrismTech’s Vortex OpenSplice for Sighting Systems on UK MOD AJAX Vehicle Programme. Thales has selected PrismTech’s Vortex™ OpenSplice™ as the data-sharing platform for the sighting systems implemented in the AJAX fleet of armored vehicles, which is being delivered to the British Army by General Dynamics Land Systems-UK. Thales is the supplier of sighting systems and ancillary equipment for the AJAX fleet.
The UK MOD’s Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) Standard mandates that such vehicles adhere to the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard for their data communication protocol. Vortex OpenSplice is based on DDS and will enable high-level communications and interoperability between the vehicles’ advanced onboard systems.
“Vortex provides an extremely cost-effective solution,” said Steve Jennis, PrismTech’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. “We’re pleased to be working with Thales on such ground-breaking work. Vortex will be making a significant contribution to the performance of these vehicles.”
Vortex OpenSplice provides device-to-device data sharing in real time – secure, reliable delivery of voluminous data. Vortex is a comprehensive and intelligent data-sharing platform for highly distributed real-time systems such as those found in aerospace and defense.
“The Thales Sights and associated image processing units are part of a real-time network that communicates via DDS,” said David Low, Head of Land Optronics UK for Thales. “Vortex OpenSplice provides the dependable communication means in this complex environment enabling the full power of the Thales subsystems to be realised.”
AJAX is an agile, highly adaptable fighting and reconnaissance vehicle for the British Army. Thales is supplying 245 vehicle sets of sights during the five-year program.
“All the complexity built into these vehicles calls for a solution that will integrate the various systems smoothly and seamlessly,” Jennis said. “When troops are in the field and their lives depend on systems communicating with one another, reliability, accuracy and real-time performance are essential and that’s what Vortex OpenSplice delivers.”
(Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
19 Jul 16. SOCOM awards Battelle new contract for covert trucks. Battelle has been awarded a USD170m contract to build Non-Standard Commercial Vehicles (NSCVs) for US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the organisation announced on 19 July.
A line of Battelle-modified trucks is shown here; the group has previously delivered hundreds of such vehicles under SOCOM’s NSCV requirement. (Battelle) Battelle, a research and development group, in 2013 won a similar SOCOM contract for NSCVs. That three-year 2013 deal was for Battelle to re-engineer nearly 300 Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux trucks to fit them with internal protection and other co