M1152 HMMWV
(click to view full)

AM General, LLC, South Bend, Ind., was awarded on May 13, 2008, a $187.75 million firm-fixed price contract for 1,470 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles (Hummers). Work will be performed at Mishawaka, IN and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2009. One bid was solicited and 1 bid received by he US Army TACOM in Warren, MI (DAAE07-01-C-S001). Note that this is just the base delivery; additional funding will be required to add more armor, weapons. communications gear, and other Government Furnished Equipment.

This contract can be added to other recent announcements. See the mid-April 2008 article “$650.1M for 4,526 Hummers” and the early May article “Another 3,216 Hummers for $522.4M”.

SV2 Vest

Protective Apparel Corp. of America in Jacksboro, TN received a $13.5 million firm-fixed price delivery order for body armor. This is an off GSA contract for the Government of Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior security forces.

Work will be performed at Jacksboro, TN and is expected to be complete by Sept 1/08. Bids were solicited via the Web with 15 bids received by the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq’s Joint Contracting Command – Iraq, (MNSTC-I/JCC-I) in Baghdad, Iraq (GS-07F-9075D).

AMV + RLS turret
(click to view full)

Many European countries are currently in the process of acquiring wheeled armored personnel carriers, from former East-Bloc nations replacing their old Soviet BTRs, to NATO countries buying lighter and less protected equipment as replacements for their tanks, to new European states looking for road-mobile and affordable armor. Recent contracts in in Europe have tended to involve competitions between 3 key competitors: General Dynamics subsidiaries MOWAG (Piranha) and Steyr-SSG (Pandur), and Finland’s Patria Oyj (AMV).

Croatia’s finalists were Patria’s AMV and GD Steyr’s Pandur II. Reports indicated that the Croatian Army is interested in up to 126 vehicles, with EUR 170 million set aside for the project, but that wasn’t quite correct. Croatian defense writer Igor Tabak helped DID reveal exactly what has happened – and now there’s a signed contract – but there’s also a Finnish state investigation of winner Patria Oyj…

• Another Round in the Competition Begins…
• Events & Updates
  
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Leo C2s, Afghanistan
(click to view full)

It would seem that the Canadian Forces are taking some of the lessons re-learned during Operation Medusa in Afghanistan to heart. Canada’s DND:

“The heavily protected direct fire capability of a main battle tank is an invaluable tool in the arsenal of any military. The intensity of recent conflicts in Central Asia and the Middle East has shown western militaries that tanks provide protection that cannot be matched by more lightly armoured wheeled vehicles…. [Canada’s existing Leopard C2/1A5] tanks have also provided the Canadian Forces (CF) with the capability to travel to locations that would otherwise be inaccessible to wheeled light armoured vehicles, including Taliban defensive positions.”

In October 2003, Canada was set to buy the Styker/LAV-III 105mm Mobile Gun System to replace its Leopard C2 tanks. In the end, however, the lessons of war have taken Canada down a very different path – one that now has them renewing the very tank fleet they were once intent on scrapping with one of the world’s best tanks, and backing away from the wheeled vehicles that were once the cornerstone of the Canadian Army’s transformation plan. This updated article includes a full chronology for Canada’s new Leopard 2 tanks, and adds information concerning DND’s exact plans and breakdowns for their new tank fleet…

• Why New Tanks Now?
• Choices, Choices: Leopard 2s For Canada [updated]
• Next Steps and Updates [new]
• Additional Readings
  
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FRES-U finalists: There
can be only one…
(click to view full)

Many of Britain’s army vehicles are old and worn, and the necessities of hard service on the battlefield are only accelerating that wear. The multi-billion pound “Future Rapid Effects System” (FRES) aims to recapitalize the core of Britain’s armored vehicle fleet over the next decade or more, filling many of the same medium armor roles as the Stryker Family of armored wheeled vehicles and/or the Future Combat Systems’ Manned Ground Vehicle family. Current estimates indicate a potential requirement for over 3,700 FRES vehicles, including utility and reconnaissance variants. Even so, one should be cautioned that actual numbers bought usually fall short of intended figures for early-stage defense programs.

The FRES program was spawned by the UK’s withdrawal from the German-Dutch-UK Boxer MRAV modular wheeled APC program, in order to develop a more deployable vehicle that fit Britain’s exact requirements. Those initial requirements were challenging, however, and experience in Iraq and Afghanistan led to decisions that removed a number of FRES requirements including weight. The UK MoD has taken some criticism for its selection of wheeled APCs as its FRES-U infantry fighting vehicle finalists, and even more criticism for making the Boxer MRAV one of those finalists after spending all that time and sterling on FRES development. The MoD is defending its choices, however, and has now declared a winner…

• FRES: The Program (Continue reading…) [updated]
• FRES: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
• Appendix 1 – The British Army’s Armored Vehicle Fleet, late 2006
• Appendix 2 – A New Procurement Approach: System House Challenges
• Appendix 3 – FRES: Key Challenges for the Contractors
• Appendix 4 – FRES Experiments: Electronic Architecture Contracts
• Appendix 5 – FRES Experiments: Vehicle-Related Contracts
  
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RE HMMWV, changes
(click to view full,
new parts in yellow)

As “$650.1M for 4,526 Hummers” explained in mid-April 2008, the US military continues to orders Hummers by the thousands. Now AM General, LLC in South Bend, IN has received a follow-on a $522.4 million firm-fixed price contract, which will add 3,216 EA High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles to the contract (DAAE07-01-C-S001). Work will be performed in Mishawaka, IN and is expected to be complete by Dec 31/09. One bid was solicited on March 17/06 by TACOM in Warren, MI.

The US military has begun fielding “Reliability Enhanced” M1151, M1152 and M1165 model HMMWVs. There have been some changes made, based on the harsh environment of South West Asia, increased payload demands, and some feedback from the field. The new models have been under development for about 18 months, from mid-2006, and are now in full production following durability testing by the U.S. Government.

RG-33 variant
(click to view full)

The USA’s Mine-Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) program has been a long road for BAE Systems. In the wake of the US Army’s belated realization that mine protection was critical for vehicles in theater, BAE’s designs, long-standing experience in the field, and production capacity had made them an early favorite. By June 20/07, however, contracts had been issued for 3,266 Category I patrol & Category II squad-sized MRAP vehicles, fully 42% of a the program’s planned 7,774 orders. Force Protection had racked up orders for 1,780 Cougar vehicles, and Navistar/Plasan Sasa had come out of the tests at Aberdeen with orders for 1,216 of its MaxxPro joint design. BAE sat in 4th place with orders for just 90 vehicles – 2.8% of the total. It had to be a humbling experience for the firm that went into 2004 as the world leader in the field.

BAE has worked hard to catch up, and recent contracts have put them solidly back into the competition, even as the number of MRAPs in the program has expanded. The latest orders widen their lead over 3rd place firm Force Protection, and make them one of just 2 firms with a foothold under the new MRAP-II qualifications. MRAP-II includes protection against EFP (explosively-formed projectile) land mines that fire the equivalent of a cannon shell at the vehicle, in addition to the standard underbody blasts. Meanwhile, BAE has added a new vehicle type to the family, and is receiving more SOCOM orders and an MRAP up-armoring contract…

• BAE MRAP: The Vehicles
• BAE MRAP: The Current Tally
• BAE MRAP: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: MRAP Competition Half-Time Update, June 28/07
  
  Continue Reading… »

RPG-7
(click to view full)

Russian-designed RPG shoulder-fired rockets are a widespread threat in many parts of the world, including the conflict in Iraq. Though they are unguided, can be a bit tricky to aim, and have short range, their disadvantages are masked in the close-quarters reality of urban combat and other common modern battle zones. There are 3 standard approaches for protecting vehicles against incoming RPGs: (1) Heavy or layered armor the warhead can’t penetrate; (2) Reactive armor tiles that explode outward when hit, redirecting the warhead and/or dissipating the blast; and (3) “Cage armor” that either prevents the rocket’s piezo-electric “crush fuze” from detonating – or forces the warhead to detonate away from the armor underneath, ‘unfocusing’ its killer blast.*

RG-31, before
(click to view full)

The bad news is that providing enough steel cage armor can add a couple of tons to vehicle weight, and dual-warhead designs like the RPG-27 will defeat cage armor. At the moment, however, the most common threats involve RPG-7 single warhead variants, which are also produced in quantity by China (to Iran for use abroad) and by Iran (direct shipment to Iraq and Afghanistan).

Enter BAE Systems’ LROD, developed in response to a fast-response Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program to provide RPG protection for Hummers and MRAP mine-resistant vehicles. This led BAE to ask if steel was really necessary – and the answer coming back from the US Army seems to be: no…

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Afghan 7000 series
(click to view full)

The U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command recently awarded Navistar Defense a follow-on contract to provide medium tactical trucks and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Under the multi-year, $1.283 billion contract, Navistar will supply 7,072 vehicles based on their severe service International 7000 Series truck. The order will include General Troop Transporter, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), water tankers, wreckers and hazardous material truck variants. In addition, Navistar will supply all required spare parts necessary to support several years of scheduled maintenance. Approximately half of the 2008 order will be delivered during the first year of the contract, with nearly 1,000 units expected to be delivered in FY 2008 (i.e. before Oct 1/08).

MV 7000 as tanker
(click to view full)

This award follows a $430 million contract, 2,900 vehicle contract awarded in 2005, bringing the overall total to $1.71 billion and 9,972 trucks. Navistar release. Note that the International 7000 truck chassis is also the basis of the blast-resistant MaxxPro 4×4 patrol vehicle, which is currently the lead vehicle in the USA’s 15,000+ vehicle MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) program.

TCOM 17M RAID Aerostat
(click to view full)

The RAID program is a combination of cameras and surveillance equipment positioned on high towers and aerostats. Aerostats differ from blimps in that blimps are powered, while aerostats are anchored to the ground via a cranked tether that also supplies electrical power. Because the aerostats are not highly pressurized, bullets won’t burst them and they can actually remain buoyant for hours after suffering multiple punctures.

The RAID concept used a smaller TCOM 17M instead of the TCOM 71M JLENS aerostats used for cruise missile and air defense, and has sensors optimized for battlefield surveillance rather than powerful air defense radars. The result is a form of survivable and permanent surveillance over key areas that has been deployed to Afghanistan & Iraq. It can also be deployed as a tower system, and this “Eagle Eye/ GBOSS” deployment is turning out to be the preferred mode.

Raytheon recently received a contract from the US Marine Corps for more systems, which has now been followed by an additional US Army order…

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