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Laser Shark

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  1. Laser Shark
    From the vid:
  2. 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)
  3. Laser Shark
    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.
  4. Laser Shark
    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).
  5. Laser Shark
    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.
  6. Laser Shark
    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
  7. Laser Shark
    Leo 2A5DK outfitted with SAAB Barracuda MCS to be precise.
  8. Laser Shark
    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...).
  9. Laser Shark
    Dang, I can't believe that one went past me. lol
  10. Laser Shark
    I thought you would be happy so see that even the Germans are now admitting the superiority of ARgonomics?
  11. Laser Shark
  12. Laser Shark
    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.
  13. Laser Shark
    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.
  14. Laser Shark
    @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.
  15. Laser Shark
    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.
  16. Laser Shark
    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.
  17. Laser Shark
    @Lord_James I think it would, but more so for Norway than Poland since they plan on acquiring about ten times as many tanks as us. So, I’d be very surprised if we haven’t reached out to them to get a feel of how serious they are about going through with this order.
  18. Laser Shark
    From statements that have been made by various Norwegian politicians, I’m very much left with the impression that getting the best possible deal for the industry is number one priority for a lot of them. That doesn’t mean that the K2 is guaranteed to win as long as Hyundai Rotem make sure that their industrial incentives are better than KMW’s. There are more factors at play here, and some of them are working against the K2. Chief among these is the fact that South Korea is not a NATO member and that Norway risks ending up as the sole European user since a Polish K2 order is not a certain deal yet. But if there is a route to victory for the K2, I strongly believe it’s through the support of the Norwegian industry, and for that you need to put as many Norwegian components as possible into the tank, even if it entails more risk.
  19. Laser Shark
    You wrote that Kongsberg claims the MCT-30/MT40 can be outfitted with an ATGM and APS. I merely pointed that this isn’t at all clear from the source you provided. In other words, you cannot use this source to strengthen your case. Yes, I’m also well aware that Javelin missiles have been attached to the side of the MCT-30/RT40 in the past, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good solution that any military would want to adapt. On the contrary, the U.S. Army never bothered attaching Javelins to their MCT-30s, and has instead fielded Strykers with CROWS-J to complement them. And despite showing up in photos of the ACV prototype, it doesn’t seem like such a solution will be making its way into the USMC either since they have apparently acquired the lighter and more compact MT20 instead, a turret that is likely less capable of mounting such equipment. (Also, am I the only one struggling with getting my posts submitted lately?)
  20. Laser Shark
    That is something that the army may be concerned about, but they’re not the only ones who can influence the decision makers. Getting the industry on their side is also the best play Hyundai Rotem can make IMO, as it’s almost certainly going to be more decisive to the outcome of this process than the K2 possibly being more mobile in the deep snow than the Leo 2A7.
  21. Laser Shark
    Recent article about Hyundai Rotem’s efforts to secure the contract for the next Norwegian MBT. A brief summary:
  22. Laser Shark
    That’s your interpretation, and not necessarily objective truth. The PDF-document only mentions that these are options for the RT-series, which includes the RT60, and that an ATGM can be fitted to a roof mounted RWS on an MCT-30/RT40.
  23. Laser Shark
    Norway ditches the MLU of the current ARTHUR counter battery radars in favour of buying new Thales GM200 MM/C multi mission radars, which will be placed on the ACSV G5. Source: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/group/journalist/press_release/norway-and-netherlands-partner-thales-multi-mission-radar-ground
  24. Laser Shark
    I believe this is for Qatar since it’s been reported that the VBCI deal has been cancelled in favor of the Boxer. Considering what likely motivated this move, I’m somewhat surprised that they’ve decided to keep the Kongsberg turret with its French sensors and ATGMs.
  25. Laser Shark
    The new FN Evolys: TFB article: https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2021/05/06/fn-evolys-new-ultralight-machine-gun/
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