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Web Page sponsored by MILLBROOK
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.
Tel: +44 (0) 1525 408408
www.millbrook.co.uk/military
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14 Jul 10. Steve Mogford, CEO of Selex Galileo told BATTLESPACE at a luncheon today that the Company had entered into an agreement with Supacat to supply the communications and sensor package for the Supacat SPV 400 LPPV offering.
10 Jul 10. Lurcher UOR cancelled. The MoD has informed bidders for the Lurcher quad bike UOR for up to 54 vehicles that the requirement is cancelled. Sources suggest that Lurcher may be replaced by a broader UOR for ‘dune buggy’ type vehicles under a new programme, Light Tactical Mobile Programme (LTMP). BATTLESPACE understands that bidders included Hobson Industries with Prowler, Yamaha with a quad bike and Boeing with its John Deere gator vehicle.
02 Jul 10. KMW finds expanded roles for Dingo 2. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann’s (KMW’s) Dingo 2 4×4 All-Protected Vehicle (APV) is being used by the German Army for an increasing number of specialised roles, with more expected to follow. The army will take delivery of a batch of 44 Dingos optimised for the battle-damage repair role and a second batch of 41 vehicles in the standard four-door, eight-seat configuration by the end of 2010. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
02 Jul 10. Chinese Type 96 122 mm howitzer gets mobile. Poly Technologies of China has begun marketing a self-propelled (SP) version of the Type 96 122 mm towed howitzer. The Type 96 howitzer is based on the widely deployed Russian 122 mm D-30 howitzer. In People’s Liberation Army (PLA) service it is normally towed by a 6×6 cross-country truck that also carries the crew and the howitzer’s ready-use ammunition. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
09 Jul 10. FRES SV – logistical nightmare on the horizon? The original FRES plan mapped out in the nineties was to provide the Army with a fleet of vehicles with common chassis, engines, electronic architecture and running gear and to scrap the myriad of different vehicles in the inventory in line with the 1970s CVR(T) model. The delays in FRES have caused the MoD to purchase a whole range of new vehicles to fill capability gaps such as Mastiff, Ridgback, Jackal, Coyote and Warthog at the same time as relifing the ageing FV430 fleet, now in storage at Donnington. The proposal to spend £500m on the FRES SV appears not to have considered the huge logistical costs in supporting an armoured vehicle fleet with the two APCs with the same role, Warrior and ASCOD II, Challenger 2, CRAAV, Titan and Trojan and the 430 Series along with the support vehicle mentioned. One of the Requirements for FRES SV is to build amongst others a Recovery, Bridging and 120mm Fire Support variant. How odd given that we already have a bridging system on Titan, albeit on a Challenger 2 chassis as we do the Recovery vehicle CRAAV and of course Challenger 2 has a 120mm gun and most Challenge 2s are in storage! With all this inventory do we need to reinvent the wheel a times of cuts, I am sure the 430 fleet can be modified for a number of roles such as ambulance and troop carrier? The answer surely is to utilise what we have and to change the roles of the vehicles and crews, something the cavalry seems reluctant to do. Th