Pandur II w. RCWS-30
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Serious corruption allegations could destroy the deal – again. (Feb 22/10)

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.

In 2005 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.

• Selection and a Winner
• Pandur II Industrial Arrangements
• Contracts & Updates [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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VBTP concept
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In December 2009, Brazil signed a EUR 2.5 billion deal with Italy’s Iveco that aims to renew its wheeled armored personnel carrier fleet, and revive Brazil’s land vehicle defense industry in the bargain. The 6×6 Viatura Blindada Transporte de Pessoal, Media de Rodas (VBTP-MR) is envisaged as a vehicle family that can replace Engesa’s EE-11 and EE-9 wheeled vehicles. Those platforms have suffered from age-related problems, questionable protection levels, and a shortage of ready spares since Engesa’s 1993 bankruptcy.

Iveco is best known around the world for its trucks, but its Iveco Fiat Oto Melara joint venture has designed and fielded the core of Italy’s tank, wheeled APC, and tracked IFV fleets. The firm already has the new Puma wheeled 6×6/ 4×4 APC in its offering set, but the VBTP will offer the firm a new market, a new joint venture, and new export opportunities.

• VBTP: The Need
• VBTP: The Vehicles
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
  
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35-meter Fort Jefferson
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Swiftships’ 35-meter patrol boat contract is part of a larger program that also delivers spare parts, guns, ammunition, training, naval simulators and infrastructure to the Umm Qasr Naval Base in southern Iraq. To expand capabilities at the naval base, the US Army Corps of Engineers is partnering with Iraq by managing a $53 million pier and seawall project. The new project in southern Iraq will provide the Iraqi Navy with new port facilities as it continues to expand its military naval capabilities. The total program for the Iraqi Navy is the 3rd largest case of foreign military sales to Iraq, according to the Bullhorn, the newsletter of the Pensacola Council of the Navy League.

Swiftships 35-meter coastal patrol boats (CPBs) are an important part of that program, as Iraq seeks to monitor and protect its southern oil export infrastructure. The latest additions include additional background about the ships themselves, and additional contract background as well…

• Iraq’s Swiftships [NEW]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [NEW]
  
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Canberra concept
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In May of 2006 the Royal Australian Navy announced its 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 contract for IFF systems…

• Winner: The Navantia-Tenix LHD
• Construction and Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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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 into 25 Mirage 2000 fighters, and retrofitted IRST optical systems for existing French frigates that allow long-range passive scans, and identification of even small naval targets like pirate vessels.

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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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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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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