TANK TALK: The week that was

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In this edition of ‘The week that was’, Defence IQ gives you a snap-shot of all the armoured vehicle updates from around the globe over the last few weeks.

MRAP...ped up - Navistar wins $880 million DoD order Navistar Defense, L.L.C., Warrenville, Ill., is being awarded an $879,923,195 firm-fixed-priced delivery order 0023 under previously awarded contract (M67854-07-D-5032) for the procurement of 2,717 units of rolling chassis; 10 engineering change proposals; and 25 contract data requirements lists, for MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. Work will be performed in West Point, Miss., and is expected to be completed by the end of October 2013. Procurement funds in the amount of $879,923,195 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The original contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity.

BAE wins in Sweden FMV has decided to procure 48 all terrain vehicles from BAE Systems Hägglunds in Sweden. The first vehicles will be delivered in the autumn of 2012 to allow them to be ready for international operations in the spring of 2013. The cost of the acquisition – a complete system including 48 vehicles and support and training equipment – is approximately around 700 million SEK. The contract also includes options to order additional 127 vehicles divided in three different batches.

Battle tank marches on The U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems $60 million under an existing contract to continue upgrading M1A1 tanks to the M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package (SEP) V2 configuration. General Dynamics Land Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics.

European mine clearance JV RUAG, a technology partner of the Swiss Armed Forces, teamed up with systems specialist Rheinmetall to manufacture and market the armoured engineer and mine clearance vehicle. The vehicle represents a technological world first based on a Leopard-2 chassis. Alongside its military capability, it can be equipped to provide valuable support in the event of disasters or for civil-military collaboration.

Buy PDI The O'Gara Group, Inc., a provider of diverse security and defence products and services, announced today its acquisition of Protection Devices, Inc. (PDI) based in San Antonio, TX.  PDI is a manufacturer of fully armoured passenger vehicles, such as Chevrolet Suburbans, for use primarily by government officials in high threat locations.  PDI is one of five suppliers under contract with the U.S. Department of State to provide armoured vehicles for the protection of diplomatic personnel worldwide.  PDI has approximately 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space and employs approximately 50 people.  The former owners of PDI will continue to run the business on a day-to-day basis.

TenCate buys into C-IED TenCate announced an agreement with the shareholders to acquire all the shares of ABDS ApS, which will be integrated into the TenCate company as Ten Cate Active Protection ApS. TenCate has been working with ABDS ApS since March 2011 on the development and market preparation of the TenCate ABDS active blast countermeasure system, a system for the protection of army vehicles against improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs. The acquisition shall be completed once Danish authorities have approved the transaction, which approval is expected shortly.

UAE…you mean BAE? Both BAE Systems Land & Armaments has received two contract awards totalling more than $150 million to provide RG31 and RG32M vehicles to the United Arab Emirates and Sweden. The RG31 is a mature, combat proven mine protected armoured personnel carrier designed, developed and manufactured by BAE Systems in South Africa. In total, over 2,166 RG31 vehicles have been delivered. The RG32M, which is extensively in service with the Swedish Armed Forces, has various military and non-military applications to fulfil a wide spectrum of command, liaison, scouting, patrol and peacekeeping roles.

Navistar, again Navistar Defense, LLC today announced that it received a $134 million delivery order for field service representatives (FSRs). The order from the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command renews the company’s in theatre FSR service contract to support International MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.

BAE……again BAE Systems, in partnership with the Brazilian Army are upgrading 150 M113 armoured personnel carriers for Brazil through a foreign military sales contract worth $41.9 million. The work under this contract will be performed at the Brazil Army Depot in Curitiba, Brazil and is expected to be complete by November 2014.

Congratulations Dr. Andrew Baxter, OBE A Ministry of Defence scientist has been awarded an OBE in Her Majesty The Queen's New Year's Honours List, in recognition of his world-leading armour protection work.Dr Andrew Baxter of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), based at Porton Down, has been the driving force behind many of the changes in protection delivered to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.During the past year, the 49-year-old from Salisbury in Wiltshire, has played a critical role in developing Foxhound, the Armed Forces' next generation of light protected patrol vehicle (LPPV). Dr Baxter helped set the protection requirements and provided a leading-edge assessment of industry proposals for the project. Working with the preferred bidder, Force Protection Europe, he has helped to guide the design of the vehicle.

Foxhound (insert generic fox-based pun headline here) A £400 million package of protected vehicles and Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) technology to further improve the protection of British Forces in Afghanistan has been announced by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond. The package includes around 100 additional Foxhound protected patrol vehicles. Foxhound is at the cutting edge of protected patrol vehicle technology and will provide unprecedented levels of blast protection for its size and weight.

Contributor:   Andrew Elwell

Andrew graduated from The University of Nottingham with an MA in History in 2003. After graduating Andrew started his career with a niche armour systems manufacturer, which provided ballisitic and blast armour products for the international defence market. His first major undertaking was to project manage a UOR up-armour programme for an in-theatre MoD vehicle. After completion of the contract, Andrew headed up the research and development department at the company. This involved designing, developing, testing and presenting new armour solutions to defeat customer specific threats to all major European and International ballistic and blast standards.

Following this Andrew moved behind the desk and became Senior Editor at a news and data provider, offering proprietary analysis, intelligence, market research and data on the global security and defence industry. The role offered the chance to write widely on the industry, exploring new technologies and getting to grips with corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity fundraisings.

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