Laser Shark
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Posts posted by Laser Shark
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FFG has delivered the first of 30 PASI XA-203N MRSP (multirole medical platform) to the Norwegian Army, which will replace the existing SISU XA-185 ambulances, as well as plugging some of the gap that has been left by the decision to transfer all of the Bell 412SP/HP to the Norwegian Special Operations Command (a couple of them will still be on medevac duty in Northern Norway, but that’s it). The PASI XA-203N have previously been used as armoured personnel carriers, but there hasn’t been much use for them after the Norwegian Army abandoned the idea of having light armoured/motorized infantry battalions in 2013. Now the plan is to keep them trucking for another 20 years as armoured ambulances.
The vehicle was displayed at Army Summit 2019:
(NASAMS High Mobility Launcher in the foreground.)
The old armoured ambulance, SISU XA-185, offers inferior protection compared to the much heavier PASI XA-203N, but it also has a better power-to-weight ratio, and it maintains an amphibious capacity unlike the newer vehicle:
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3 hours ago, Sovngard said:
Finally, I would say that budget cuts and wheels go well with each other. The Land Component believed until the last minute that they will get second-hand Dutch Leopard 2A5/A6.
That was their mistake. Had they prioritized differently, like the Canadians ended up doing eventually, they could probably have gotten 20-30 second hand Leo 2 for the sum they spent on the DF90s.
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More trouble in Belgium:
QuoteThe Belgian cannot deploy 18 anti-tank vehicles against other tanks, even though that was exactly what they were bought for. The problem is with the 90-millimetre cannon (DF90) with which the Piranha-vehicles are equipped.
The results of the last tests with armour-piercing ammunition, that took place in November 2019, were negative, according to internal correspondence at the Defence department.
“In view of the fact that the problems (…) have still not been solved after about 10 years of use, COL (chief of staff of the land component) has decided that there will no longer be any investment in the vehicle as a fully-fledged anti-tank capacity,” the report said, reports De Morgen.
(...)
The Piranha’s Direct Fire 90 millimetre cannons have a lot of issues when firing the armour-piercing ammo, including screws coming loose, breaking valves and disintegrating wires due to the heat.
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7 hours ago, Willy Brandt said:
@Laser Shark With all the news of new Leos being upgraded and bought: Any news on Norway upgrading their Leo2A4s?
Afaik nothing has changed since this information was released in March:
QuoteProject number and name: 9360 New main battle tank capacity
Background and Overall Objective: The Norwegian Army shall maintain three mechanized battalions, all which is to have a modern main battle tank capacity. A concept study is ongoing, which, amongst other, will evaluate the number of vehicles and their combat capability
Scope: To be defined.
Project status: MP (i.e. “possible project”)
Cost estimate: 4000-8000 mill. NOK
Implementation period: 2025-?
Meanwhile the Leo 2A4NOs are only getting a limited life extension, which mostly focuses on replacing worn out parts/parts that are difficult to source:
QuoteProject number and name: 5050 End life upgrade of the Leopard 2 A4 NO
Background and Overall Objective: Life extension of existing Leopard 2 A4 NO system
Scope: Existing inventory.
Project status: PP (i.e. “planned project”)
Cost estimate: 75-200 mill. NOK
Implementation period: 2019-2024
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The MG3 has had an almost cult like following in the Norwegian military (also true for the AG3), but as more and more soldiers get their hands on the new MGs there has been less and less noise about “Hitler’s Buzzsaw” and its godlike rate of fire. I’ve never encountered anyone with experience with both the MG3 and the MAG who doesn’t prefer the latter.
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Lots of photos of the Norwegian tank platoon at Bardufoss from the time when it had Panzer III Ausf. N and StuG III Ausf. F/8:
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The MG3 is going to end up being replaced by three types of MGs from the looks of it: FN Minimi (in the infantry/foot units); FN MAG (on vehicles); and this new Light Weight Machine Gun (also for the infantry/foot units).
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Norwegian artillery personnel checking out the first K9 VIDAR* in South Korea:
* Strange that it got a name change rather than the usual "N" or "NO" added to the designation, and it's even stranger that they chose the Norse God of Vengeance rather than the Norse God of Thunder.
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1 hour ago, SH_MM said:
So only
threefour seats within the Norwegian CV9030 accept 95th percentile of the male popluation, while two seats even fall below the 75th percentile requirement set for the Puma - wow... That shows again how the German media makes a mountain out of a molehill, creating drama and bad PR.That's typical of media everywhere. lol
1 hour ago, SH_MM said:Thanks for the correction. What is the correct designation? CV9030N1?
Sadly, I don’t know of a better designation than BAE’s CV90 MkIIIb. In the UD2-1 documents, which tend to be pretty thorough when it comes military designations, the new turreted CV90 variants are simply known as CV9030 SPV and CV9030 STRILED (the CV9030 OPV is not listed yet because it’s delayed).
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6 hours ago, SH_MM said:
Do they still carry eight dismounts after the upgrade? I was under the impression that the mine protection system, blast attenuating seats and blast-proof safe storage for ammunition and equipment would reduce the available interior volume.
From UD2-1, the Norwegian Armed Forces' safety regulations for military land activity:
SPV = IFV variant
STRILED = Command & Control variant
Høyde = Height
Source: https://forsvaret.no/hv/ForsvaretDocuments/UD 2-1 (norsk, rev 01).pdf (page 212)
If we compare this layout with the image posted by @David Moyes, we can see that the Norwegian Army has not been willing to sacrifice the eighth seat for more internal storage space. Norwegian CV90s also have some extra storage capacity on the hull to compensate for this (not seen on the hull of Dutch or Danish CV90s):
QuotePart of the upgrade to the new CV9030NF1 (CV90 Mk. IIIb) configuration is raising the roof (and probably also streching the hull) in order to increase the interior volume to CV90 Mk. III levels.
CV9030NF1 is not a designation for the new CV90 Mk IIIb but for the CV90 Mk I that were upgraded for service in Afghanistan.
- DIADES, skylancer-3441 and Serge
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1 hour ago, Rico said:
Are they going for Wisent 1 ARV as an upgrade of the NM217?
Not sure, but I’m leaning towards ‘no’. According to the future acquisitions document, the scope of the light and medium recovery capacity project will be about 100-250 million NOK or 12-30 million USD, but that sum does not only include the NM217 but also a new light ARV based on the M113. So, unless the Wisent 1 upgrade is very very cheap, I’m thinking that the upgrade will probably be more limited in scope. I’m not sure that the NM217 need the extra capacity of the Wisent 1 upgrade either now that the Wisent 2 is here to take over the heavy recovery missions where the NM217 has struggled.
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29 minutes ago, Xoon said:
Unless something has changed, Forsvaret does not have any plans to buy a new MBT before the MGCS. Budget issues.
No, for some time now, the plan has been to select a new MBT around 2025. The budget is the reason why it's not happening sooner.
Look up Project 9360 on page 13 of this document: https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/7635ac0d48d44fc180fac57f58be7518/faf-2019-2026-english---final.pdf
QuoteOnly thing considered is buying basically CV90s with 120mm.
This option has been discarded.
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The earlier mentioned P5050 lives on, but it’s been reduced in scope, and is now a technical lifetime extension (instead of a proper MLU). This was to be expected considering the age and state of the tanks, the fact that certain parts are out of/has been replaced in production, and that there will be no replacement tank before 2025.
More details here:
https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:572045-2018:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
https://kgv.doffin.no/ctm/Supplier/Documents/Folder/163257
In other somewhat Leo 2 related news, the new Wisent 2 ARVs have begun entering service with Norwegian Army units, so there is some neat footage of the beasts out there:
"There is always a bigger fish"
I also recall mentioning that the Norway was interested in acquiring new AEVs a few months ago, and it’s been announced that we have opted to buy another 6 Wisent 2s in the AEV and mine breeching configurations: https://forsvaret.no/forsvarsmateriell/presserom/forsvarsmateriell-møter-studentene/hæren-får-pansret-ingeniørpanservogn
- Serge, Ramlaen and Bronezhilet
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Quote
- Germany will deploy A7V with the VJTF force. In addition, they will purchase the Active Protection System (APS) "Trophy" for the unit that is part of the force. It is a signal that Germany prioritizes its obligations to NATO, as well as the security for its own troops, Westermoen says.
Source is the Norwegian rittmester Christoffer Westermoen via the Norwegian defense and security website aldrimer.no. Westermoen is involved with the Norwegian tank upgrade/replacement project, and has let himself be interviewed due to grievances with how the MoD has handled the project.
Is the quoted part accurate info @SH_MM?
- Ramlaen and Belesarius
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4 hours ago, Mighty_Zuk said:
It appears that the MCT-30 either cannot accept an APS, or will have a very hard time doing so.
For what it’s worth, the MCT-30 brochure (second result if you google "MCT-30") does list APS as an option, and I assume Kongsberg wouldn’t do that unless it can be done.
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While it makes sense to ditch the somewhat limited Leo 2 upgrade envisioned in P5050 in favor of a better tank, there aren't really any reasons to postpone this until 2020-25 aside from budgetary reasons. The tanks that will show up in the Norwegian tank trials will almost certainly be the same ones that are available today (i.e. Leo 2A7V, M1A2 Sep v3, K2 Black Panther… maybe the LeoClerk though @SH_MM doesn’t think that’s likely), so we might as well pay up now, but sadly, Erna doesn’t seem to care all that much about NATO’s 2% goal, and is more interested in spending less oil money atm.
That said, the opposition parties have been pushing this issue for a while now, and there will be a final battle over this in the Storting next autumn, so there is still a glimmer of hope for those who want new tanks sooner rather than later, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
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18 minutes ago, SH_MM said:
Just think about it from KMW's perspective: why should they create their own competition and agree to take only 50% of the revenue?
Sometimes ideology trumps reason.
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If they are serious about offering the LeoClerk to customers, I suppose it might show up in the “upcoming” Norwegian tank trials in a few years. As a Leo 2 based vehicle and another European alternative, it’s probably also got a better chance against the Leo 2A7 (the Army's favorite) than the other likely contenders.
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The CV90120-T prototype has showed up in the Netherlands from the looks of it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjWhgmEBQq4/?taken-by=esmeevanwijk
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2 hours ago, SH_MM said:
In mid-May the Norwegian government announced that they have to buy new tanks, as there are no Leopard 2 tanks available for lease. Does this mean they are just looking at Leopard 2s or are other tanks also considered?
They announced that it's going to be a regular procurement process, and since the name of the project is “new tanks” (and not “new/upgraded Leo 2s”), it kind of implies that other tank manufacturers will also be able to bid on this contract. That said, considering that the Leo 2 is already an established platform in the Norwegian Army, and we’ve recently invested in a new simulator for it, as well as new Wisent 2 ARVs, and that projects such as new AEVs and AVLBs on Leo 2 chassis are apparently proceeding as planned, it doesn’t exactly seem all that likely that something that isn’t a Leopard 2 will end up being selected in the end IMO.
QuoteThe lower image seems to show the G5's suspension (the roadwheels are grouped in two pairs), the upper one however seems to show a M113G4 or similiar vehicle.
The upper image shows how the ACVS looked like a few years ago (a few prototypes were even built), and it was pretty much just a stretched M113F3 with a shorter superstructure. It seems like FFG took a look at the RFT on the production of these vehicles, and decided to offer us something better than that instead.
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3 minutes ago, Xoon said:
So we are not phasing out the old M113 in the near future?
There are not any plans to replace them, no. On the contrary, we seem to be upgrading more of them according to this article.
General artillery, SPGs, MLRS and long range ATGMs thread.
in Mechanized Warfare
Posted
More K9 VIDAR footage. The .50 on top is also interesting as its one of the new M2A2N.
"Oh shit" at 1:16?