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18 May 17. Polaris eyes mission packages for tactical vehicles. Polaris Government and Defense continues to work up plans to extend the capacity of its fleet of ‘Fly and Drive’ tactical ground vehicles, senior company sources have explained.
Speaking to Jane’s at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) in Tampa, Florida, company director Jed Leonard, explained that Polaris was considering multiple avenues in order to provide a multicapability for MRZR and DAGOR [Deployed Advanced Ground Off Road] internally transportable vehicles (ITVs).
“We’re always working to expand the capabilities of our family of vehicles with new platforms, variants, and mission packages,” Leonard explained while highlighting the fifth anniversary of the MRZR vehicle. “We can do this because our vehicles at their core provide modular off-road mobility, and because we continue to get regular feedback from users and programme offices.”
Polaris is considering options to further enhance the modularity of existing platforms with options to build such capacity into a base vehicle as well as facilitation of upgrades on deployed vehicles.
“We are looking for more applications for systems for both MRZR and DAGOR platforms in relation to changing concepts of operation,” Leonard added, while referring to ongoing deliveries of vehicles to the US Special Operations Command.
Company sources made reference to the US Army’s 2017 Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment (MFIX) exercise, conducted at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in April, which was focused on extending the multidomain capabilities of the MRZR.
“As technology advances, so too does the need for soldiers to be able to multitask without forfeiting their primary duty. With new multidomain platforms, the army hopes to give soldiers the equipment to handle the added responsibility,” an army report on MFIX reads.
New MRZR-based platforms called ‘Hunter’ and ‘Killer’ just completed testing during the MFIX. The MRZR was chosen because it is designed to handle various types of terrain. The army report adds “the Hunter and Killer are also designed to track aircraft, perform three-dimensional fires targeting, and provide other capabilities”. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 May 17. The PIRANHA, the latest member of the PIRANHA family of 8×8 wheeled vehicles of General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS), which has been selected by the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) for the Armoured Personal Carrier (APC) requirement, enters the next stage in the procurement program. After the selection in 2015 and only 16 months after contract signature, the first vehicles in serial configuration have been handed over to DALO in the ceremony today at General Dynamics European Land Systems-Mowag (GDELS-Mowag) facilities in Kreuzlingen (Switzerland). The first seven pre-series vehicles, which are built in the Infantry Vehicle configuration, will now undergo a comprehensive test program, starting in the second half of 2017. The test program includes climate acceptance tests (hot and cold conditions), a verification
acceptance test and will be concluded with the user acceptance test by the end of 2017. Upon successful completion of the test program, deliveries will start early in 2018. The Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistic Organization (DALO) signed the contract for the delivery of 309 PIRANHA Armored Personal Carriers in six variants (Infantry, Command, Ambulance, Engineer, Mortar and Repair), as well as a multi-year sustainment contract for the through life support of the vehicles in the future.
17 May 17. Oshkosh to recapitalise US Army’s fleet of heavy tactical vehicles for $165m. Oshkosh Defense has received orders worth a combined $165m from the US Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to modernise the ar