Laser Shark

Another update regarding the Norwegian tank replacement project (P 9360). The cost limit has been revealed to be around 19.3 billion NOK or 2.3 billion USD. That’s almost double the sum that was mentioned a year ago. Now this might be a result of lifetime costs being included and/or because parts of the production line is expected to be moved to Norway, but with an increase like that, I can’t help but wonder if they aren’t also planning on acquiring more tanks than the often quoted “84” number, which would basically only allow for a single squadron of 18 tanks for each of the 4 (current and planned) mechanized battalions of Brigade Nord. In any case, from the part below, it seems pretty clear that this contest won’t simply be determined by who earns the highest marks during the upcoming winter trials in Norway: “The procurement is carried out as a competition between two suppliers from Germany and South Korea, respectively. The choice of supplier will be based on the tender that offers the best overall outcome in regards to, among other things, operational, logistical, mercantile, industrial and security policy criteria.” And further: “The Ministry of Defense has initiated an inter-governmental dialogue with Germany and South Korea, respectively, with the intention of establishing a government agreement, where relevant elements are security policy issues, logistics cooperation, operational military cooperation, opportunities for government-to-government cooperation, opening of the supplier country's defense market for Norwegian weapons systems. products, strategic cooperation between Norwegian industrial companies and the supplier country's industry, etc. The content of the government agreement will form an important part of the decision basis for choosing a supplier.” A final decision and contract is expected next year according to the same document, but that seems a bit optimistic to me. Hope to be proven wrong, however. Source: https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/ac3c943108aa44cd8ecb59e217833ed7/no/pdfs/prp202120220001_fddddpdfs.pdf (page 78-79)

I’m fairly certain that both contenders will bring their own people to crew the tanks during the tests, as well as to explain and demonstrate how things works.

I'm guessing it's also one of the tanks that will take part in the upcoming tank trials in Norway this winter (February/March IIRC).

Wisent 2 AEV NOR Article and video can be found here. It also mentions some of the weight saving measures that @Rico talked about earlier. It seems they went to some lengths to keep the weight of the Wisent 2s at around 62 tonnes, which is interesting in light the ongoing tank replacement project. In other words, I would not be too surprised if the A7NO turns out to be somewhat lighter than its German and Danish counterparts. Other than that, it also mentions that both the AEVs and ARVs have been outfitted with a new camera system from Kappa optronics. It says it offers improved performance for this platform, so I guess they're only for the Wisent 2s, and other vehicles will keep their Saab cameras. It's also nice to see that Saab Barracuda MCS is becoming more common on Norwegian AFVs since I prefer the aesthetics of Norwegian splitter camo over plain ol' NATO green.

It’s a bit grey since Øyvind Isachsen is not only the head of Kavalariklubben (The Cavalry Club), but also a senior advisor at First House who has been contracted by KMW to promote the Leo 2A7 in Norway. Thus the questions that needs to be answered are if the Kavaleriklubben members who created the website did so with KMW's approval, and from where they got the specs that are listed on it. There’s also the question of why KMW haven’t corrected this info now that they are supposedly in control of the website. Edit: According to the second in charge Jørgen Fodstad, the info came from KMW: "But it is KMW itself that has been responsible for the content on the Leopard page, he states" https://www.tu.no/artikler/lavmal-uten-like-kavaleriklubben-eide-skryteside-for-leopard-og-kritisk-side-for-black-panther/509639

Leo 2A5DK outfitted with SAAB Barracuda MCS to be precise.

FN MINIMI 7,62®Mk3 is the winner of the Norwegian light weight machine gun (LWMG) contract: https://www.fma.no/aktuelt-og-media/2020/signering-av-kontrakt-pa-nye-maskingevaer If we end up purchasing 4000 Maximis, it will become the most numerous MG by far since we only acquired around 1900 of the 5.56 version and maybe around a thousand or so FN MAG. The latter is supposed to be kept as a mounted MG on vehicles and ships, but I’m somwhat unsure about if or how this purchase will affect the distribution of the 5.56 Minimis. If the organization with fire support squads and more mobile maneuver squads is kept, then I can imagine that there will probably be Maximis in the former and that the latter will keep their Minimis. In any case it seems this is the end for the MG3 in the Norwegian Armed Forces, although it’s possible that they’ll place some of the less worn out ones in storages like they’ve finally started doing with the AG3s (unfortunately too late to save most of them from being turned into scrap metal though...).

Dang, I can't believe that one went past me. lol

I thought you would be happy so see that even the Germans are now admitting the superiority of ARgonomics?

I doubt that. The German government doesn’t put their foot down on arms sales to Hungary and other countries with governments that are unlikeable from their point of view, so I don’t see why they’d do it in this scenario either. No, the decision to acquire tanks from a different source than Germany must be for different reasons IMO, and some of the more probably ones have already been laid out by other posters in this thread.

If they are okay with producing Leos in Spain and Greece, it’s hard to see why they wouldn’t approve of a factory in Poland too, especially if it means securing a contract for up to 800 Leo 2A7V and denying ground to competitors like Hyundai Rotem. Heck, even in Norway, where much less is at stake, it seems KMW are perfectly willing to let the local industry get a substantial share of the work if the reports are true.

@Lord_James I think his argument was that you do not deploy tanks by themselves, but rather mix them together with mechanized infantry, anti-air vehicles, mortar carriers etc. in combined arms formations. So X number of tanks, let’s say 2000, might actually be too many if you cannot raise/fund enough supportive elements for more than half that number.

And now that it's been confirmed, I'd say that the K2's chances of being selected is getting comparable to that of a snowball in hell.

Damian's wet dream come true if this actually happens: https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/07/09/poland-could-purchase-m1-abrams-tanks-from-us/ It's probably worse news for Hyundai Rotem than KMW, though, since a significant contract like this one would have given the former an important foothold in the European tank market.