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01 Aug 18. Czech MoD to procure light CBRN defence vehicles. The Czech Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 31 July that it plans to procure 80 4×4 light armoured vehicles for the Army of the Czech Republic’s (ACR’s) 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence Regiment based in Liberec. The MoD plans to issue a CZK5.1bn (USD233.3m) contract in September to the MoD-owned Military Research Institute (VVU) based in Brno, which will act as the prime contractor. The new vehicles will be based on the Iveco LMV 4×4 chassis, deliveries of which to the ACR are planned for in 2020-22. The VVU will equip the vehicles with mobile laboratory modules it has developed and designed that will enable members of the 31st CBRN Defence Regiment to detect contaminants, collect samples, and analyse findings in the field and then relay the data to nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) laboratories in the rear area for further analysis. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
01 Aug 18. Delta showcases Didgori AMEV. Georgia’s Delta State Military Scientific-Technical Centre has provided new details of the latest Armoured Medical Evacuation Vehicle (AMEV). The AMEV is based on Delta’s 4×4 Didgori light armoured vehicle (LAV) with the engine compartment at the front. The vehicle – which is 6.7 long, 2.61m wide, and 2.86m tall, with a wheelbase of 3.57m, and a ground clearance of 0.49 m – has a gross vehicle weight of 10.9 tonnes, which includes up to 700kg of payload. It is powered by a 6.7-litre V8 turbocharged diesel developing 300 hp coupled to an automatic transmission with six forward and one reverse gear, enabling the vehicle to achieve a stated maximum road speed of up to 120km/h. A 256-litre armoured fuel tank provides a maximum range of up to 1,050km at an average speed of 90km/h. The all-welded hull of the AMEV is constructed from Swedish Armox 500+ steel with an additional layer of appliqué passive armour. The appliqué package is designed to be rapidly replaced to meet evolving mission requirements or for repair. The rear roofline is raised to provide additional volume for the medical evacuation mission, with twin doors at the hull rear for rapid loading of stretchers and wounded personnel. The rear compartment has a total of six bullet-resistant vision blocks, two either side and one in each of the rear doors. Role-specific equipment includes a first aid kit, oxygen cylinder with bracket and regulator, oxygen masks, medicine storage, head immobiliser, manual resuscitator, and portable suction equipment. Other medical equipment can be installed when required. The vehicle is also outfitted with a full air-conditioning system, powered steering, portable search light, strobe lights, and a central tyre-inflation system. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
31 Jul 18. Indian Army’s Smerch launchers to be mounted on locally designed 10×10 vehicles. The launchers for the Indian Army’s 9K58 Smerch 300mm multiple rocket launch (MRL) systems will be mounted on indigenously designed 10×10 high-mobility vehicles provided by Indian private-sector defence manufacturer Ashok Leyland. A company official told Jane’s on 30 July that the Chennai-based firm signed a INR1bn (USD14.6m) contract with the IA for 81 10×10 high-mobility vehicles, adding that deliveries are set to start “imminently” and be completed by the end of March 2019. Ashok Leyland’s 10×10 high-mobility vehicle was selected over models fielded by rivals Tata Motors and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), following extended trials that were completed in late 2017 in response to a tender issued by the IA in 2015. The shortlisted vehicle, which is fitted with a hydraulic crane to reload the system, will supplement and eventually replace the 9A52-2 launch vehicles based on the MAZ-543M 8×8 truck chassis. The IA operates several launcher variants for the Smerch system, including around 62 9K58 Smerch batteries, each of which has six launch vehicles. Since 2012 India’s state-owned Ordnance Factory Board has produced several rocket variants for the system that have a strike range of 70 or 90km. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
30 Jul 18. First modernised Duro tactical vehicles delivered to Switzerland. General Dynamics European Land Systems-Mowag (GDELS-Mowag) delivered the first 40 modernised Duro 4×4 tactical vehicles to the Swiss defence procurement agency armasuisse at the end of May, the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sport announced in a press release on 26 July. The modernisation of the Duro I troop carrier (Duro I WE) was approved by the Swiss Federal Parliament in 2015 and series production began in September 2017. The vehicles will be used for the first time this summer and deliveries of around 330 vehicles are planned by the end of 2018.
Analysis
The Swiss Army took delivery of 3,000 Duro vehicles from then Bucher Industries between 1994 and 2002, 2,220 of which GDELS-Mowag will modernise through the second quarter of 2022. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
30 Jul 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) was selected by the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) as the Integrated Systems Developer for its Expedient Leader Follower (ExLF) program. In this role, Lockheed Martin will lead a three-year effort to develop, integrate and test unmanned prototype systems for supporting leader/follower convoy activities within an asymmetric threat environment. Soldiers will conduct operational technology demonstrations using the prototypes developed in the ExLF program to establish operating procedures and shape future programs of record.
“We are leveraging 15 years of experience in developing autonomous capabilities for our customers,” said Gaylia Campbell, vice president of Precision Fires & Combat Maneuver Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Our goal as the Integrated Systems Developer is to help coordinate a number of systems and vendors in achieving mature, reliable autonomous convoys to support our warfighters in complex environments.”
Soldiers conduct resupply convoys within an asymmetric threat environment compounded by long sustainment missions, adverse weather/environment and night operations. These conditions adversely impact operator safety, degrade driver/operator situational awareness and reduce resupply efficiency.
“The Expedient Leader Follower effort will equip a number of existing military ground vehicles with scalable robotic technology through the integration of modular kits, common interfaces and an open architecture to increase operator safety, improve situational awareness and increase resupply efficiency,” Campbell said.
30 Jul 18. Engineering services company Babcock updated the market on Monday over what it called a “misleading article” published by the Sunday Times at the weekend. In the article, now removed from the Times’ website, it was reported that the Ministry of Defence told Babcock in recent weeks that it would not proceed with a deal to maintain about 2,300 armoured vehicles, including the Mastiff and Jackal. The FTSE 250 firm said the article confused its existing DSG contract, which runs until 2025, with an “entirely separate tender” for Protected Mobility Strategic Support Supplier (PM SSS) which initially came to market in 2015 but which did not proceed to competition following a decision to halt the procurement process in December 2016.
“DSG is a long term service provision and transformation contract for a wide range of equipment, maintenance, spares supply and platform overhaul with the UK Ministry of Defence,” Babcock said on Monday. “As part of this long term partnership contract Babcock is able to make further proposals for transformation and performance improvement to the customer.”
The company said one such recent proposal related to putting a number of different vehicle types onto an availability service, which was designated ‘Strategic Support Supplier’ (SSS).
“Following discussion, the MOD has decided instead to focus on deepening the transformation and the relationship with Babcock on the core contract, which continues to offer the Army significant flexibility. The existing contract offers Babcock significant exclusivity over the various service categories.”
With regards to its trading, Babcock said its trading statement of 19 July reiterated its underlying earnings guidance for the 2019, despite forecasting slightly lower underlying revenue growth than had initially been expected. It noted that the statement also reported that the bid pipeline had increased by £1bn to around £14bn.
“There has been no change to the company’s expectations for underlying revenue and underlying earnings as detailed in its recent trading statement, and no change to the bid pipeline,” Babcock added. “The impact of slower than anticipated spares procurement activity relating to DSG was included in the guidance issued at the time.
We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Army and MOD to deliver the transformation in vehicle availability and performance which is at the core of our long term Babcock DSG transformation contract.” (Source: Sharecast News)
30 Jul 18. Koni expands combat vehicle shock absorber portfolio. Dutch company Koni is targeting the wheeled and tracked armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) market with its expanded range of shock absorbers. Koni supplies shock absorbers to vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as vehicle suspension system developers such as Axle Tech, Texelis, and Timoney for newbuild or legacy platforms. Vehicles fitted with Koni shock absorbers include the Turkish 8×8 FNSS Pars, 4×4 Force Protection UK Ocelot, and UK 4×4 Supacat Jackal. The company has supplied its latest Type 93 coil-type shock absorbers to Finland’s Patria for its new 6×6 armoured personnel carrier (APC) development, which was shown for the first time at the 2018 Eurosatory exhibition in June. A variant of this system, called the Type 93 Hydroride hydro-pneumatic system, offers ride-height control. According to company specifications, the Type 93 has a velocity rating of 12 m/s and offers a tensile strength of 200kN. It can withstand a rebound and compression force of 50kN. Koni has also completed development and testing of a hydraulic damper for the widely deployed US BAE Systems M113 series APC, with many examples having been fitted with additional armour protection and weapons, which have increased the vehicles’ gross vehicle weight (GVW) and degraded their mobility. Customers for the damper include Germany and the Netherlands. The hydraulic damper can be installed on tracked AFVs weighing up to 20 tonnes. The company claims that the larger reservoir of its damper offers at least 12% improvement in heat dissipation over similar products, as well as enhances vehicle control with high damping forces, reducing the effects of pitching. Koni is also supplying its shock absorbers via subcontractor Loc Performance for the US Army BAE Systems Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) Engineering Change Proposal 2 (ECP 2) programme. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
28 Jul 18. DoD researchers literally reinvented the wheel with shape-shifting tracks. Wheels are faster on hard surfaces, while a tracked design performs better on soft ground. Rather than pushing a ground combat vehicle through terrain it doesn’t perform well on, why not just slap on some shape-shifting wheels? A team from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center demonstrated the feasibility of such shape-shifting wheel-track mechanisms for the Defense Department recently. The new technology, dubbed a “reconfigurable wheel-track,” can transition from a round wheel to a triangular track and back again while the vehicle is in motion — allowing for an instant improvement in tactical mobility on shifting terrain. The wheel-track is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Ground X-Vehicle Technologies, or GXV-T, program, which aims to improve mobility, survivability, safety, and effectiveness of future combat vehicles without piling on more armor, according to a June 22 press release.
“We’re looking at how to enhance survivability by buttoning up the cockpit and augmenting the crew through driver-assistance aids,” said Maj. Amber Walker, the program manager for GXV-T in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office. “For mobility, we’ve taken a radically different approach by avoiding armor and developing options to move quickly and be agile over all terrain.”
The DARPA initiative is looking to build a future in which combat vehicles can traverse up to 95 percent of off-road terrain, including slopes and various elevations. The new wheel-track design is just one of the contract awardees that recently demonstrated advances on a variety of potentially groundbreaking technologies that meet the program’s goals.
DARPA also showcased a new “multi-mode extreme travel suspension” system that allows for “high-speed travel over rough terrain, while keeping the vehicle upright and minimizing occupant discomfort,” the agency said in its statement. The suspension can move 42 inches upward and 30 inches downward, and keeps itself level on steep grades by adjusting each wheel. Other enhanced mobility designs include an electric in-hub motor built by QinetiQ, which puts motors directly inside the wheels, offering heightened acceleration and maneuverability with optimal torque, traction, power, and speed over rough or smooth terrain.
“QinetiQ demonstrated a unique approach, incorporating three gear stages and a complex thermal management design into a system small enough to fit a standard military 20-inch rim,” according to the release. Another new development could impact a vehicle crew’s awareness. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Military Times)
————————————————————————-Millbrook, based in Bedfordshire, UK, makes a significant contribution to the quality and performance of military vehicles worldwide. Its specialist expertise is focussed in two distinct areas: test programmes to help armed services and their suppliers ensure that their vehicles and systems work as the specification requires; and design and build work to upgrade new or existing vehicles, evaluate vehicle capability and investigate in-service failures. Complementing these is driver and service training and a hospitality business that allows customers to use selected areas of Millbrook’s remarkable facilities for demonstrations and exhibitions.
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