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25 Jan 17. ST Kinetics outlines Bronco 3 capability. ST Kinetics’ (STK’s) Bronco 3 is the logical evolution of the Bronco 2 (Warthog in British Army service) and factors in many lessons gained from more than 15 years of service of the Bronco 1 with Singapore’s ground forces, as well as operational experience of the Warthog in Afghanistan, Dominic Phoon, head of business development with the company’s Design and Manufacturing Group, told IHS Jane’s. Development of Bronco 3 commenced in 2010 and Phoon explained that based on its predecessors’ survivability records a key design aim was to provide at least Warthog levels of protection, but at no more than Bronco 1’s base design gross vehicle weight of 16 tonnes, and not Warthog’s ultimate operational weight, which peaked at 21 tonnes. An amphibious capability comparable to that of the original Bronco 1 was also desired. These aims have been achieved with Bronco 3 attaining 5 km/h in the water, and tipping the scales at around 10.2 tonnes unladen. Phoon disclosed that throughout its use in Afghanistan the UK’s fleet of 115 Warthogs survived around 30 direct improvised explosive device strikes, with no crew fatalities, the relatively low strike rate part-attributable to the design’s ability to traverse terrain inaccessible to other vehicles, wheeled or tracked. Actual protection levels for Bronco 3 remain classified beyond basic hull protection of up to Level 4 ballistic. However, both modules have been redesigned and now feature blast deflecting V-shaped hulls suspended from a redesigned and stiffened chassis by four rubber isolators. Additional benefits of this isolator interface include the ability to swap the rear module in less than 30 minutes, and a reduction (when compared to Bronco 2) in noise, vibration, and harshness levels of 50%. Individual crew seats are an in-house blast-attenuating design and are suspended from the cabin roof. Bronco 3 normally seats 12, the four front cabin seats located as close to the vehicle centreline as possible. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
24 Jan 17. Growing political tensions between Ankara and Vienna in recent months have resulted in the termination of an otherwise prospective deal between a Turkish and an Austrian company, both engine specialists. In October 2015, TUMOSAN, a privately owned Turkish engine maker, signed a deal with AVL List, an Austrian firm, for technical support for the engine that the Turkish company had been commissioned to develop.
Under the deal, TUMOSAN would get technical support from AVL for the power unit of the Altay, Turkey’s first indigenous, new-generation main battle tank in the making. AVL also would provide know-how for the integration of the engine to the tank. The Turkish government insisted that the country should finally have the intellectual property rights and export licences for each part of the engine. In March 2015, TUMOSAN signed a €190m (approximately US $200m) contract with the Turkish government to design an engine for the Altay. The program involves the indigenous design, development, prototype production, testing and qualification of an engine for the Altay. TUMOSAN also will design and develop a transmission for the tank and produce critical parts for its engine, including the diesel pump, electronic control unit and injector. With know-how from AVL, TUMOSAN hoped it would conclude the program within 54 months and “with maximum possible local content.”
But TUMOSAN recently announced that it terminated its contract with the Austrian company due to unresolved disputes over export licences. A statement from the Turkish company said: “Under the contract [with AVL] the company had to provide us with the necessary [Austrian] government licenses within 90 days. After the company’s requests for extension for several times it became c