Buffalo, arrivé
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The French DGA procurement agency recently announced [in French] that its 2009 urgences operations (UO, formerly “crash programs”) budget doubled from EUR 131 million in 2008 to EUR 260 million in 2009. This change is in line with a broader international trend, as front-line operations in Afghanistan and beyond reveal limitations in existing equipment, as well as new equipment needs. One change from 2008 was an increased emphasis on naval systems, as 4 of 36 UO programs focused on counter-piracy efforts.

Key 2009 programs included 32 armoring kits for France’s Puma and Cougar medium helicopters, 200 vehicle up-armoring kits, 150 IED jammers, 5 Buffalo mine-clearing vehicles, 60 RWS remote-control turrets for vehicles, The Venus project for on-the-move communication with the Syracuse satellite system, 10 SATCOM on-the-move stations, Integration of America’s Remote Operational Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) ground-to-air communications for 25 Mirage 2000 fighters, and retrofitted IRST optical systems for existing French frigates that allow long-range passive scan and identification of naval targets.

HITROLE Light
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Finmeccanica subsidiary Oto Melara and the Italian Ministry of Defense recently signed a sole-source EUR 20 million (currently $29.7 million) contract to acquire 81 HITROLE Light turrets for Italy’s Light Multirole Vehicles (LMV, or Lince). The Linces have served well in Afghanistan, using their blast protection to save lives during land mine attacks. The first HITROLE turret will be delivered for operational testing in about 4 months, with most delivered by the second half of 2010.

Small Remote Weapon Systems (RWS) offer a package of advanced sensors, as well as a 7.62mm or 12.7mm/ .50 caliber machine gun, or a 40mm grenade launcher, all controlled from inside the vehicle, using a joystick and screen. While their field of view is narrower than an exposed human’s, and they do not transmit auditory cues, they do offer long-range day and night surveillance, and protected firepower that is not vulnerable to snipers. Some high-end systems are even stabilized to ensure accurate fire from moving vehicles, though HITROLE does not appear to have this capability. American CROWS/ CROWS-II systems on its Humvee jeeps, many MRAPs, Stryker APCs, and M1A1 TUSK tanks offer just one example of growing RWS usage by armies who are increasingly forced to fight in complex terrain and urban areas. Italy has ordered 1,286 Lince blast-resistant vehicles as of June 2009, however, so 81 RWS systems aren’t – yet – a fleet-wide contract like CROWS.

Bofors Archer system
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BAE Systems Bofors’ Archer is a light, air-portable, and highly automated 155/52 light mobile artillery system that can hit targets with great accuracy at ranges up to 50km/ 30 miles. Automation ensures that the crew can fire the gun within 30 seconds of arriving in position, and without leaving the cabin. Archer belongs in the same class as Nexter’s Caesar (France), Denel’s G6 (South Africa), and Soltam’s Atmos-2000 and Rascal (Israel).

To this point, Archer has been a Swedish project, administered by their FMV procurement agency. Funding has been provided for system development and some initial production, but the project’s future has been shadowed by anemic Swedish defense budgets. In May 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Norway’s FLO procurement agency. Now, it has evolved into joint development of the Archer artillery system, and an initial contract…

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Dutch Bushmasters’
first Afghan patrol
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Despite ongoing US procurement of M1151/M1152 Hummers, the retreat from Jeep-like vehicles is accelerating among Western militaries. Insufficiently protected against land mine threats in modern conflict zones, and insufficiently protectable due to inherent design limitations, conventional vehicles like G-Wagens, Land Rovers, and HMMWVs are being replaced in manufacturer lineups and military acquisitions by more protectable truck-based models, or by dedicated mine-resistant patrol vehicles. A wide array of countries are buying these vehicles for the first time. Meanwhile, nations that were ahead of the curve continue to add to their stocks.

ISAF, S. Afghanistan
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Australia’s move to more than double its original order of 300 Thales-ADI’s Bushmaster IMVs, which have proven themselves with Australian forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, offers ample evidence of the seriousness with which they view the global trend toward IED land mines in conflict zones. First-time buyer The Netherlands has also adopted the Bushmaster, to strengthen its own Afghan force.

The Dutch move to field mine-resistant vehicles was concluded in close cooperation with 2 friendly foreign governments, and it has just placed its 6th order…

• The International Trend [NEW]
• The Dutch Decision
• 3 Governments in a Cooperative Effort
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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Canberra concept
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In May of 2006, “Australia Issues Official Tender for A$ 2.0B Large Amphibious Ships Program” covered the RAN’s decision to expand its naval expeditionary capabilities. HMAS Manoora and Kanimbla would be replaced with substantially larger and more capable modern designs, featuring strong air support. Navantia and Tenix offered a 27,000t LHD design that resembled the Strategic Projection Ship (Buque de Proyeccion Estrategica) under construction for the Spanish Navy. The DCNS-Thales Australia team, meanwhile, proposed a variation of the 21,300t Mistral Class that is serving successfully with the French Navy.

Navantia’s larger design eventually won, giving the Spanish firm an A$11 billion clean sweep of Australia’s “Air Warfare Destroyer” and LHD programs. These 5 ships will be the core of Australia’s future surface navy. The LHDs will be able to serve as amphibious landing ships, helicopter carriers, floating HQs and medical facilities for humanitarian assistance, and launching pads for UAVs or even short/vertical takeoff fighters.

The latest inclusion involves a successful early-stage design review…

• Winner: The Navantia-Tenix LHD
• Construction and Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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Iveco LMV
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Austria has been a neutral power since World War 2, but contingents from its small armed forces are sometimes made available for international deployment. The growing realization that blast resistant vehicles are an essential piece of equipment in any combat zone appears to have finally reached Austria’s priority list, spawning a EUR 104 million (about $138 million) contract for 150 “protected multipurpose vehicles.”

In January 2009, Austria made its vehicle choice. Now, it has made its weapon choice…

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Pandur II w. RCWS-30
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In January 2006, the Czech Republic selected General Dynamics’ European Land Combat Systems subsidiary Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH of Austria to supply its army with 199 new eight-wheeled Pandur II armored personnel carriers (APCs) between 2007-2012. The vehicles would replace Soviet-era OT-64 SKOT APCs, and would be produced in Austria and the Czech Republic.

As DID noted in its coverage of the initial contenders, the contract included an option for 35 additional vehicles for a total of 234, and had a potential value of Koruna 23.6 billion ($1-1.4 billion). Steyr’s Pandur II was a finalist, and eventually won the competition. But questions arose, the deal became a political football, and delivery issues jeopardized the deal into oblivion. Or so it seemed.

Despite the economic crisis gripping Eastern Europe, the Czechs reinstated a scaled-down version of the deal in late February 2009 – and may be set to make another land systems purchase in the near future…

• Selection and a Winner
• Pandur II Industrial Arrangements
• Contracts & Updates [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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Patria AMV w. NEMO turret
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On June 12/06, the Slovenian Ministry of Defence announced that Patria’s Armored Modular Vehicle (AMV) had been selected as the preferred vehicle for the its armored vehicle program. Patria notes that the order will include 135 wheeled armored personnel carriers in 4 different versions, including one variant with Patria’s new unmanned NEMO 120mm mortar turret. The deal had been negotiated at EUR 278 million (about $367 million), with deliveries to take place from 2007-2013.

That order is still going through, despite an ongoing bribery investigation that led to the resignation of Patria’s President and CEO. That investigation has become significant enough to be added to this article, especially now that it has resulted in a pair of arrests that include Patria’s former CEO. Meanwhile, vehicle deliveries are beginning…

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Eagle IV w. RWS
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The German Bundeswehr’s GFF program plans to replace the core of its wheeled and light tracked combat vehicle fleet with entries from 4 categories: the lightweight 5.3-tonne GFF 1, the 7.5-tonne GFF 2, the 12.5-tonne GFF 3 and a 25-tonne GFF 4 all-terrain utility vehicle.

General Dynamics’ Swiss MOWAG subsidiary recently announced a EUR 92 million (about $140 million) contract with Germany’s BWB procurement agency for its Eagle IV wheeled vehicles, making them them winners in one of Germany’s GFF Klasse 2 competitions. GFF Klasse 2 reportedly comprises over 5,000 vehicles, to go with an already-awarded contract for the Bv206S tracked all terrain vehicle from BAE and Rheinmetall. This GD MOWAG contract covers…

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Dutch G-Wagen, XA-188 APC
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The Netherlands’ Ministerie van Defensie has announced a EUR 250+ million project to replace nearly 8,000 light, medium and heavy wheeled logistics and patrol vehicles between 2011-2018. This will not include tactical vehicles such as the Landmacht’s Fennek reconnaissance vehicles, CV90/ YPR/ BvS10 armored personnel carriers, tanks, et. al., but it will replace a significant percentage of the Dutch patrol vehicle and truck fleet.

The project is looking to acquire 7,018 vehicles (including civilian vehicles) plus 3,617 modules, trailers et. al. to adapt the vehicles for specific tasks. The project also expects to order 1,020 modular protection kits, 120 Remotely controlled weapon systems and 1,260 gun mountings.

The accompanying briefing states that the operational vehicles, as opposed to vehicles bought under this program for civilian/domestic use, should be able to operate in the upper levels of the violence/war spectrum. This includes the option of modular add-on protection that can be changed as threat levels from projectiles, shrapnel, land mines, et. al. The mounting of electronic jammers to defeat remotely-detonated IED land mines is also contemplated, and the vehicles should be able to operate in extreme high and low temperature conditions.

The ‘light freight/cargo vehicle’ should be CH-47 transportable, either in the helicopter or underslung, as well as C-130 transportable. All of the operational vehicle types should be transportable in the C-17, AN-124 and A-400M, as well as with the country’s Rotterdam Class LPD ships, by civilian transport vessels and by train. Operational life should be at least 2 years, with a total lifespan of 10-15 years. MvD announcement [Dutch language] | Many thanks to DID subscriber David Vandenberghe for his translation assistance.