15 May 14. Lockheed Martin recently demonstrated the successful firing of a Javelin missile from a turret at the Cranfield Ordnance Test & Evaluation Centre (COTEC) near Wiltshire, England. The turret was designed and built as a joint project between Lockheed Martin U.K. in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, U.K., and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Dallas, Texas, and Orlando, Florida. The production of the turret and successful firing of both an ATK 30mm Bushmaster cannon and a fully integrated Javelin missile has been achieved in a nine-month period. Building on Lockheed Martin’s expertise in designing Infantry Fighting Vehicle turrets and its experience in missile systems, this development work is being conducted to support a number of potential business opportunities around the world. “This firing is the culmination of a tremendous amount of cooperation and hard work between the U.K. and U.S. teams,” said Alan Lines, vice president and managing director, LMUK Ampthill. “The team was able to leverage knowledge gained from other Ground Vehicles programs, such as the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme and Scout Specialist Vehicle, as well as the U.S. Ground Combat Vehicle and Amphibious Combat Vehicle.” Lockheed Martin turret solutions exceed the accuracy requirements for both static and on-the-move firing, combined with enhanced protection and ergonomically driven fightability improvements, maximizing mission success and significantly increasing crew effectiveness. Javelin is the World’s most versatile and lethal one-man-portable, anti-tank, guided munition and surveillance weapon system. It is made by the Javelin Joint Venture, a partnership between Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin.
BATTLESPACE Comment: Given reported problems on the CTA system, could this be an alternative system for Scout and WCSP?
15 May 14. Frazer-Nash Consultancy has won a research contract with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) following a submission to the themed competition on “Protecting Military Vehicles”. Frazer-Nash’s innovation is a novel armour-attachment system which will enable the rapid fixing and removal of armour modules onto any military vehicle. It will be highly configurable to provide the ability to apply different levels of protection to a wide range of different service vehicles to meet continually changing threats in theatre. The modular armour system concept will demonstrate the potential to deliver cost savings whilst increasing capability for UK Armed Forces. The concept is based on two key features:
1. Application and Maintenance – Armour packs will be much easier to attach and detach than current protection systems. This will increase the flexibility and speed with which service personnel can react to different threat levels in theatre.
2. Commonality across the fleet – Modular by design, many of the same packs will be applicable for use on multiple vehicles, significantly reducing the logistics burden and through life costs.
Tony Marsh, Defence Land business manager at Frazer-Nash said: “We are delighted to have won this work through the CDE as it is recognition of the innovative nature in the way we respond to these challenges. Our concept has the potential to deliver a cost-effective capability advantage for UK Armed Forces. This project builds on Frazer-Nash’s strong background in providing innovative solutions to tough engineering problems, and demonstrates our in depth understanding of the defence industry, the issues that service personnel face on the ground, and our technical ability to deliver.”
09 May 14. Pakistan conducts training launch of Hatf III ballistic missile. The Pakistan Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) has conducted a successful training launch of the nuclear-capable, short-range ballistic missile (SBRM) Hatf III, from an undisclosed location.
The test launch represents the culmination of the command’s field training exercis