NEWS IN BRIEF
Europe
04 Jun 08. The UK MoD has formally declared The Support Vehicle Project “In-service on time and to cost”. Marshall Specialist Vehicles (MSV), the Cambridge based specialist vehicle and shelter manufacturer has designed and developed the cargo beds for the new MOD Support Vehicle which successfully achieved its In Service Date (ISD) at the end of February 2008. MAN Truck & Bus UK Ltd is the Prime Contractor for the Support Vehicle Project. It is providing the UK MOD with a family of more than 7,000 logistic vehicles consisting of recovery vehicles, fuel tankers and over 6,900 cargo vehicles all of which can be fitted with appliqué armour. The vehicles commenced introduction into service in 2007 and deliveries are scheduled to be complete in 2013. The contract, with a value of £1.2bn, was placed in March 2005. Following a design and development phase, which included extensive UK MoD trials, delivery of the cargo vehicles stated in April 2007. ISD for the programme as a whole was achieved on 29th February 2008. MSV undertook the design and development of the cargo load bed variants and currently manufacture 35 vehicles per week. There are 23 cargo vehicle variants based on the 6, 9 and 15 tonne MAN chassis. These include flat bed, cargo and troop carrying vehicles some of which also have winches or vehicle mounted cranes.
18 Jun 08. Panhard is set to lead a marketing push by Thales Australia to sell its Bushmaster family of armored vehicles to the French military. The Australian arm of Thales announced June 17 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding for the French light armored vehicle builder to market the highly protected infantry vehicle family locally. Initially, the agreement covers only marketing for a possible emerging French requirement but could be extended to cover other options such as through-life support, training, production and sales into other countries. Thales Australia’s managing director Chris Jenkins said the agreement
“represented a significant step forward in future export sales of the Bushmaster family. Working with Panhard, we will be able to further improve the family of vehicles.” France has no specific program at this time for a highly protected Mine Resistant Ambush Protected type of infantry vehicle, although that may change in the next nine to 12 months if an urgent operational requirement emerges to equip forces deployed overseas. (Source: Defense News)
25 Jun 08. MoD tests fresh range of hot weather menus for troops on operations. Troops are to get new food rations on operations as a range of new
menu trials get under way with soldiers. The Multi Climate Ration (MCR) trial sees the introduction of 20 new trial menus for general use on the front line in hot weather environments plus six new menus for halal, vegetarian and Sikh/Hindu
variants. The design of the trial MCR packs has been heavily influenced by
feedback from personnel in all three Services including direct input from troops who have experienced eating Operational Ration Packs for long periods on operational deployments in severe and demanding conditions. Food selection panels were conducted in May 2008 to select products for the new MCR. The Multi Climate Menu trials aim to address the forces’ concerns for the long term and will provide a number of varied and nutrional food items to meet the needs of troops in the harsh Afghanistan and Iraq environments.
16 Jun 08. Nexter Systems showed two new systems at Eurosatory:
ARAVIS®, the most protected multi-mission vehicle of its category. Protection is one of the major asset of this new 12 tonne class 4 X 4, an essential requirement of the armed forces, highlighted by the experience acquired in Iraq and in Afghanistan. ARAVIS®’s protection level outclasses that of all existing 4×4 vehicles, with the following combined protection levels : level 4 ballistic protection (defeats 14,5 mm threats), level 4 mine protection (defeats 10kg mines un