Web Page sponsored by MILLBROOK
Tel: +44 (0) 1525 408408
www.millbrook.co.uk/military
————————————————————————-
01 Dec 17. Rheinmetall transfers driver training trucks to Bundeswehr. At the beginning of November Rheinmetall transferred the first of 35 TGX 26.360 6X2-2 LL driver training trucks to BwFuhrparkService GmbH (BwFPS) in Oldenburg. Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH (RMMV) booked the vehicle order back in 2016. The contract is worth around €3.2 million without value added tax.
The transfer took place at the Bundeswehr’s driver training centre. Representatives of BwFPS, the Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) and the head of the Bundeswehr’s Driver Training Centre were all on hand, as were RMMV personnel. Furthermore, in October 2017 RMMV was selected once again to serve as framework contract partner through to 2022.
Deriving from RMMV’s TGX series, the vehicles are based on the globally proven MAN Trucknology generation. These advanced commercial trucks set the world standard for robustness, innovation, efficiency and performance. Because they derive from large-scale production series, they have already clocked on millions of development kilometres. They offer an excellent price/performance ratio and are superbly well suited for civil and military applications alike.
RMMV is part of Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Systems division, Rheinmetall AG’s centre of excellence for military vehicle technology. The company is a complete vehicle maker, supplying nations around the world with a full array of military trucks as well tracked and wheeled fighting vehicles and turret systems – all from a single source.
29 Nov 17. German Boxers deploy to UK. A company of German army mechanised infantry equipped with Boxer armoured personnel carriers has been exercising for the first time with British Army units on Salisbury Plain to test digital communications interoperability with the latest version of the Bowman radio network. Senior British Army sources denied to Jane’s that the month-long training exercise was linked to an imminent decision on a procurement process for its Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) project, for which the Boxer is a strong contender. General Nick Carter, the head of the British Army, said at DSEI in London in September that he hoped to have the procurement path of MIV resolved by the end of this year to start the programme, which aims to provide an estimated 600 vehicles to equip the United Kingdom’s two proposed strike brigades. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
BATTLESPACE Comment: The MIV Programme is the ‘one to watch’ at the moment with General carter pitted against DE&S and MP’s as to a sole source of competed Programme. The FRES debacle and wastage of over £300m is still fresh in the mind of those against a competition. ARTEC has sought to calm nerves over the perceived greater costs of Boxer by proposing its own competition at Tier One Supplier level. The Challenger 2 LEP may well be the one to tip the scales in favour of Boxer as with BAE selected that could trigger a sale of BAE’s UK Land Business, including the much-coveted munitions business to Rheinmetall. This would give Rheinmetall the UK footprint to justify a Boxer buy.
29 Nov 17. Lockheed Martin Autonomous Driving System Tops 55,000 Miles in Extended Army Testing. Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Autonomous Mobility Applique System (AMAS) logged more than 55,000 testing miles during the U.S. Army Extended Warfighter Experiment (EWE) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Bliss, Texas.
“The testing was conducted by Soldiers and Lockheed Martin personnel over several months at two major military installations in a variety of mission scenarios,” said Kathryn Hasse, Combat Manuever Systems director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Soldiers operating the AMAS vehicles provided us very positive feedback about how the syst