DIADES

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/army-reboots-omfv-2026-deadline-dropped/
 


 

Leclerc, even in English. 

Yes, unless I have accidentally forecast a merger!

Thats a little bit of exaggeration... 
In the case of Volvo A60H:
Unloaded weight is 43750kg, payload 55000kg, total weight is 98750kg. Straight from the brochure.
Mining trucks are vastly different than military vehicles, with completely different distribution of weight. Apples to oranges I think.
 
 

Nah, not really new - based on AJAX which is a tart up of ASCOD.  1980s tech at best.  One of the reasons AJAX did not make down select for LAND 400 in Australia was its actual age.  Lots of lipstick, still a pig.

My turn.  That's kind of my point the bid failed.  So when did they last win new platform work?

That's kind of my point, Raytheon-Rheinmetall decided not to bid and the shipping issue was merely a side effect of a conscious decision to not bid. They decided not to bid because they knew they couldn't meet the impossible requirements, and Lynx can already grow to the ~50t number that NLM posits for the GD bid. Hence my supposition of the actual amount of weight needed to meet the requirement being much larger.
 
 
Supposedly, their tender was all-new. And considering their heaviest existing chassis cannot get anywhere *near* the required protection given its relatively low weight cap (42t) I am tempted to believe that.

A Dingo 2 of the Belgian army was hit by a pressure-activated IED consisting of about 30 kg explosives. The vehicle was part of a German-lead convoy, several German vehicles narrowly missed the IED before the Dingo activated it. All passengers survived, two suffered minor wounds from unsecured objects sent flying inside the vehicle by the IED's detonation.
 



 
The Marder 1 upgrade will be based around a ~ 563 kW engine from Liebherr, not MTU. It seems that this is the same engine Rheinmetall previously mounted on the Lynx KF31, which makes sense and also means that at least some of the money invested into the Lynx KF31 has managed to generate profit. I wonder if at some time the Lance turret also will end up on the Marder, if politicians decide to spend more/less on defence or delays with Puma's full readiness will continue...
Despite the Marder 1 upgrade (which is partly introduced out of fear that the Puma might not be ready for the VJTF 2023 in high enough numbers with sufficient spare parts), Rheinmetall claims that the Puma S1 will be ready for the German lead of the VJTF in the Baltics. The second batch of Pumas (for which the budget has already been approved) hasn't ordered yet, as the original batch isn't finished.
 
The Wiesel 1 upgrade contract has been signed with FFG. The upgrade encompasses improved protection incl. add-on armor and mine protection kit, new optics and an optimized drivetrain. The Rh 202 autocannon is kept, as apparently no worthy replacement option has been found. There were rumors of the Mauser BK 27 used by the German airforce and navy being considered, but I've never seen any official source. The anti-tank version with TOW missile launcher will however see an upgrade, as the old missile system will be replaced by MELLS (Spike-LR). Not all Wiesel 1s (only 196 out of more than 300) will be upgraded, these 196 vehicles will be distributed into the following variants: - 15 driving training vehicles, 16 Wiesel 1s in the reconnaissance variant, 110 Wiesel Mk 20 and 55 Wiesel 1 anti-tank missile.
 

 
One of the main reasons for not upgrading all Wiesel 1s is the decision to adopt a version of the Boxer with autocannon (known as project "MaKaBo", Maschinenkanone Boxer). As reported by ESuT, after evaluating different existing options for the Boxer, the Bundeswehr has apparently decided that a manned turret is a mandatory requirement, which supposedly leads to Rheinmetall being the winner - at least an official article by the Bundeswehr claimed that the LANCE turret will be fitted. Btw. the weight of a LANCE 1 turret with full armor, missile launcher and 30 mm Mauser MK-30/2 ABM reaches 5,2 tonnes! Each heavy company of the Jäger battalions and the Gebirgsjäger battalion 231 will have twelve Boxers with autocannon (in three platoons of four vehicle) - at the moment there are twelve Wiesel 1s (six with 20 mm Rh 202 and six with TOW launchers) in the heavy companies.
The LuWa program (next-generation air-droppable light weapon carrier; supposed up to twice as heavy as Wiesel 1) will provide a replacement for the rest of the Wiesel 1s by the mid/late-2020s.
 
Rheinmetall has also developed the Fuchs 1A8 Plus variant in cooperation with the BAAINBw, which features an improved drivetrain and power pack able to keep up better with Boxer. in theory there also could be armor improvements, as IBD Deisenroth (now part of Rheinmetall Protection Systems) has developed a new armor kit for the Fuchs, which has been fully qualified. This armor meets the full STANAG 4569 level 4 ballistic requirements, whereas the original MEXAS armor kit only reached a reduced/loosened protection requirement.
 
KMW's APVT - the amphibious vehicle based on Puma components with a boat-shaped rear end for reverse swimming - has been called Lurch (amphibian) by KMW recently, so that might become its proper name. One scenario for which KMW advertises the Lurch is river-crossing as part of pioneering (measuring depth of rivers, setting up bridges, etc.). Currently that is done via boat, historically (1970s) the German military had a lot of interest in the APE, but it didn't perform well in tests.

Thats some absolutely atrocious track tension on the second tank.

BTW WTF has happened with MTU's new website? It looks like they completely erased the fact of production AFV engines...

Morocco, rare photos of VT-1A

 
 

Hey, I guessed right - the absolutely stupid 360 degree protection requirement was what doomed the GCV as well (remember the baseline config was 60 something tons and the system max was 84?). The Puma is as good as you can get protection wise and fitting two on a C-17.

as I understand it - not a single requirement but the conflict between having to fly two in a C17 and a 360 degree protection level beyond laughable.  The Requirements aren't strictly the problem - the problem is the engineering and technology development to meet them had to be done in a stupid timeframe and also had to be mature....  DoD clearly a victim of salesmanship over engineering.
 
  I have seen the docs but not sure if I have access to a copy.

as I understand it - not a single requirement but the conflict between having to fly two in a C17 and a 360 degree protection level beyond laughable.  The Requirements aren't strictly the problem - the problem is the engineering and technology development to meet them had to be done in a stupid timeframe and also had to be mature....  DoD clearly a victim of salesmanship over engineering.
 
  I have seen the docs but not sure if I have access to a copy.

I would bet money if I had it, that the requirements list was in the recent DoD tradition; being simply absurd and couldn't be met reasonably - and everything else is saving face for that. You don't end up with a sole offer on a program of that size, unless you are demanding something goofy. Nobody even bothered (sure, the Lynx technically couldn't be shipped in time - but failure to ship in time is something that reeks of the bosses not treating it as a plausible thing) to bid outside of GDLS, and if Breaking Defense is right, GDLS couldn't even actually meet the monstrous spec list.
 

So, as you know, let’s start again :
https://www.army.mil/article/231775/army_decides_to_cancel_current_omfv_solicitation

Iron Fist is a result of earlier cooperation, don't think they had anything to do with each other by 2015.

I saw performance data for the Diehl APS in 2015.  Could deal with KE 30mm and above.  25mm too small to reliably detect.  The 120mm gets bent or knocked off axis.  Still a mighty bang on impact but no penetration.  But - Diehl did a diehl with IMI and Iron Fist is the outcome.  The performance of that is very much less.
 
 
 
 
 

So with FCS being too sci-fi, the army is repeating the mistake of the 84-ton GCV monster now in going maximum conventional. Do they not have a setting between 'pie in the sky tech dream' and '50 year old tech'?
 
Reminds me of the fact we have both the B-2 & B-52 in service...

Vilkas (Boxer with Samson Mk 2 turret) delivery to Lithuania delayed, because some issues that were identified by the Lithuanian MoD on the pre-production vehicles couldn't be fixed in time.
 
https://www.milmag.eu/news/view?news_id=3274

"True" Capitalism is possible only in sectors of economy where at least 2 aspects working together - big number of similar-ish participants of the "market" and high-competition between them, where customer is choosing company based on only product qualities. Now let's talk about what if you are bying a big civilian jet and you are "Western" country. How many companies you can choose from? Boeing and Airbus and that is all? How much your choice is affected by political situation? No big company in US ever payed to politicians? No EU weapon maker ever "oiled" possible customer outside of EU when customer was thinking about weapon purchase?
   Even in "capitalist" countries there are many parts of economy that don't have enough competitors to have high level of competition (internet providers in remote parts of the country is probably simpliest example), or where competition is happening not around a product itself, and/or have big political "baggage" tied to it. 
 
   We have parts of economy where there are a lot of companies that have pretty serious competition with each other, like internet providers in St.Peterburg, and we have something like UVZ, which is basically a monopolist in tank-building in whole country. Both are results of capitalism - a lot of people want internet and their money flow is able to support several companies that compete for them, while same economy/budget can't fully support more than 1 producer of tanks, which is a reason why Kirov and Omsk is out of the game. And that would be the case with "true" and not "true"/"crony" capitalism anyway.

Note - Plant No. 9 is cannon-designer/production company.

K-17 IFV on Boomerang chassis, with APS installed

 
 

Spain voids production contract for Piranha V:

https://www.ejercitos.org/2019/12/23/defensa-declara-desierto-el-contrato-del-vcr-8x8/
https://www.ejercitos.org/2019/12/24/vcr-8x8-requiem-por-un-sueno/ 

Proposal found unsatisfactory on all fronts:
Non-compliance with technical requirements Failure to comply with the deadlines Lack of integration of industrial components required for hull or the turrets under study Lack of financial guarantees for possible cost overruns in respect of the amount approved as the program's expenditure ceiling  "From the aforementioned DIGAM report it seems that the contract will be submitted to public tender"
Article mentions that Iveco Freccia could be considered the favourite. VBCI and Boxer other contenders.

We have couple of those rare rear-engined APCs to spare.