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15 Sep 16. UK MRV-P moves ahead. A down select has been made for the British Army’s Multi Role Vehicle Protected (MRV-P) Group 2 vehicle and five contractors will be issued with an Invitation to Tender (ITT) in the October/November 2016 timeframe, IHS Jane’s understands.
The army has a requirement for three vehicle groups under the MRV-P programme.
The Group 2 MRV-P requirement is for two variants, which could take the form of 4×4 or 6×6 vehicles. One variant will be the Troop Carrying Vehicle, with around 180 required. It is envisaged that this will have a crew of two and carry six dismounts.
The second variant is the Future Protected Battlefield Ambulance (FPBFA), with around 70 required. The FPBFA will have a crew of four, consisting of the driver, co-driver, doctor, and medical assistant and have space for two stretcher casualties or one stretcher casualty and two walking wounded.
The five contractors contractors down-selected for the Group 2 vehicle are BAE Systems Land (UK) with a vehicle from Penman (which is currently in administration), General Dynamics Land Systems UK with the Swiss MOWAG Eagle 6×6, Mercedes-Benz, Rhinemetall MAN Military Vehicles with the Survivor-R, and Thales with the Thales Australia Bushmaster.
The ITT will be followed by a down select to two contractors who will each provide a vehicle for automotive trials plus another vehicle for blast trials.
MRV-P Group 1 will be met by an off-the-shelf purchase of Oshkosh Defense’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) via a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal.
JLTV is now entering low-rate production for the US armed forces following extensive competitive trials; 66,000 vehicles are expected to be procured for the US Army and Marine Corps through 2040
The JLTV would be fitted with UK sub-systems such as radios, battle management system, and electronic devices to counter improvised explosive devices. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
15 Sep 16. MIV going sole source through OCCAR?
One big topic of conversation at DVD was the suggestion in many quarters that the UK’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) 8×8 requirement was going to be sole sourced with the Boxer vehicle via the Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d’Armement (OCCAR) route. OCCAR is an international organisation of 6 nations members with the mission to manage collaborative defence equipment programmes. For its purposes, OCCAR places and manages both operational and administrative contracts. Cynics suggested that the Rfp was being let after DVD so as not to put off the other contenders such as Singapore Technologies with Terrex 3, GD with Piranha 5 and LAV, Patria and Lockheed Martin and Nexter with VBCI. Although seen as more expensive the OCCAR/Boxer solution would allow the UK to recoup some Boxer investment and speed up the introduction of the much needed 8×8. The RfP is expected in November with some suggesting that another criteria is the MoD limiting the choice to an in-service vehicle. In other news the Challenger 2 LEP was very visible at DVD with all the teams lined up to give their offerings. One source suggested that the down-select would be between the BAE Systems Team and a specialist team such as that offered by Ricardo and CMI or the RUAG offering. The other teams such as Lockheed Martin-Elbit put on a powerful display of technology for C2 LEP including a common fire control computer with Warrior and Ajax and a new Training offering whilst Rheinmattal offered a solution that included inclusion of the 120 smooth bore gun.
15 Sep 16. AAD 2016: OTT Technologies M36 Puma orders build up. OTT Technologies has confirmed that more than 100 of its latest Puma M36 Mk 5 mine-protected vehicles (MPV) have been produced in the armoured personnel carrier (APC) configuration for the export market.
The vehicles are cur