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Over at DID, I note that the US military has just begun fielding a new variant of the HMMWV jeep: the M1151 and M1152. Think of them as Hummer v2.1. The good news is that the new hummers are designed for rapid installation and removal of armor in the field, with minimal tools and support. This greatly simplifies logistics and upgrades, and allows the armor to be removed when it isn't needed so the Hummers will last a little longer (up-armored HMMWV suspensions die quickly due to all the extra weight). The bad news is that despite the armor improvements,...

The U.S. Army has discovered a remote control gun turret that works, and cannot get enough of them. The army wants over 9,000 CROWS (common remotely operated weapon stations), but is only getting 15 a month. There should be about a thousand CROWS in service by the end of the year. The idea for CROWS has been around for nearly half a century. Years of tinkering, and better technology, eventually made the remote control gun turret effective and dependable. CROWS us a real life saver, not to mention anxiety reducer, for troops who drive through bandit country a lot, and...

More and more European armies, whether in NATO or not, are going over to wheeled armored vehicles. Some are likely to abandon tracked armored vehicles entirely, given current mission requirements (i.e., the increasing demands for troops trained and equipped for "peace and stability" operations). Among armies that have adopted or have announced that they will adopt wheeled armored vehicles are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Span, and Switzerland. In addition, a number of other armies outside of Europe are taking this route, either wholly or in part, including Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S., as...

Sometimes, governments carry out acts of piracy. A case occurred last month when a Ukrainian ship, carrying fifteen Belgian Pandur wheeled armored vehicles, on loan to UN peacekeeping troops from Benin, stopped at a port in Equatorial Guinea. There, on January 3rd, officers from the Equatorial Guinean navy boarded the ship, arrested the four Beninese soldiers guarding the vehicles (and other military equipment). Shortly there after, the stuff the Beninese soldiers were guarding was removed from the ship. The Ukrainian ship was actually carrying a hundred vehicles for the UN, all painted white, with UN markings. The UN is trying...

On February 3, 2006, it was reported that 15 of Belgium's Pandur armored personnel carriers were stolen, together with radio equipment and field kitchens. The equipment was meant for a Beninese battalion that is part of the UN force in the Congo.Thanks to some help from DID's Benelux reader David Vandenberghe, DID can bring you the details. In December a ship under the flag of Saint Kitts & Nevis (VRT's report was incorrect) left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge for Congo, chartered by Geodis under the auspices of the UN. The cargo ship never made it to its destination. Four...

Yet another European nation is replacing its Cold War era armored vehicles, with wheeled vehicles similar to the American Stryker. Belgium has ordered 241 Piranha IIIC vehicles. This vehicle is based on the Piranha III LAV, long used by the U.S. Marines. These vehicles were designed by Mowag of Switzerland, a company now owned by General Dynamics. The 14 ton, 8x8 vehicle has a maximum road speed of 100 kilometers an hour. Belgium is getting several variants of the vehicle, (99 infantry carriers, 32 armed with a 30-mm autocannon, 40 with a 90-mm cannon., 24 command vehicles, 12 ambulances, 17...

General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, MI received a $128.3 million firm-fixed-price contract for Light Armored Vehicles (LAV) and Supporting Logistics and Engineering Products. According to General Dynamics, this is increment of a $257 million contract for 130 new eight-wheeled LAV-A2 vehicles in armored personnel (LAV-PC), anti-tank (LAV-AT), command & control (LAV-C2), logistics (LAV-L), and mortar (presumably LAV-EFSS) variants for the U.S. Marine Corps. Note that these are improved variants of the the LAV Gen II models used by the Marines et. al. since the 1980s, rather than LAV IIIs which are called Stykers in the USA. These eight-wheeled...

General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, MI received a $24.5 million contract for spare parts that are unique to the two newest Stryker variants: the M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) and the M1135 Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle (NBCRV). This contract funds procurement of initial unique spares for the first-time fielding of these two variants, and has a total potential value of $50 million if all options are exercised. So, how does this fit into the evolution of the USA's Stryker vehicle family, and future production plans? The Stryker MGS and NBCRV variants entered low-rate initial production...

Editor’s note: A clarification to this story has been issued since its original publication. HEIDELBERG, Germany — The first U.S. forces to rotate into the future training facility in Romania will likely be from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Stryker), probably some time in the summer of 2007. The Stryker brigade is expected to relocate this year from Fort Lewis, Wash., to Grafenwöhr. One of its battalions plus a few other units are expected to go to Romania for the initial rotation, according to Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, the U.S. Army Europe deputy chief of staff for operations. In the summer...

General Dynamics announced that the Czech Republic has selected General Dynamics European Land Combat Systems subsidiary Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH of Austria to supply the Czech army with 199 new eight-wheeled Pandur II armored personnel carriers (APCs) between 2007 and 2012. The vehicles will replace Soviet-era OT-64 SKOT APCS, and be produced in Austria and the Czech Republic. As DID noted in its coverage of the initial contenders, the contract includes an option for 35 additional vehicles and has a potential value of Koruna 23.6 billion (approximately $1 billion). Steyr's Pandur II was a finalist alongside Patria's AMV (Armoured Modular Vehicle),...

Stryker vehicles being prepared for deployment in Iraq are being retrofitted with "slat" armor. The fact that they are being upgraded with this armor has given Stryker critics fuel for the fire. The critics of the Stryker vehicle claim that it is a high tech death trap for the troops who ride inside. Yet the problem really isn't the Stryker vehicle, it's the proliferation of high powered yet cheap munitions. Critics should take into consideration that RPG's are a serious threat to ANY vehicle, including the M1A2 tanks (depending on where the tank is hit). The energy utilized by RPG's...

When the Stryker entered service in Iraq with it’s slat armor “cage” (to protect against RPGs), there was some criticism, and some crude humor, directed at that particular rig. But the slat armor did the job, and now Russia is offering it’s similar BTR-80 vehicle, equipped with slat armor. While the United States abandoned wheeled armored vehicles after World War II, Russia kept theirs, and constantly improved their BTR series. While not as heavy, or as high tech, as the American Stryker, the BTR vehicles are popular with many nations, especially for use by police and paramilitary forces. The current...

Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan are getting 43 new armoured patrol vehicles with improved protection from ground-level mine blasts but they may not be a panacea for the type of suicide attack that killed a Canadian diplomat and injured three soldiers in Kandahar. The new armoured patrol vehicles (APVs), based on the South African Nyala anti-mine vehicle, will be used mainly for patrols and route reconnaissance. They are designed to "resist under-wheel and under-belly mine strikes to enhance crew survivability" and to protect occupants "from small arms, hand grenades and anti-tank mines." That description comes from a Canadian Forces background and...

January 11, 2006: The U.S. Army’s new Stryker wheeled armored vehicle has been in Iraq for over two years now. The first Stryker brigade left its 299 Stryker vehicles in Iraq, when the troops finished their one year tour. Now, after two years, those vehicles are being brought home and refurbished. Seven percent of the vehicles got banged up pretty bad, mostly by roadside bombs. These had to be rebuilt. Those 299 Strkyers averaged about 24,000 kilometers a year. Some put in close to 110,000 kilometers. Military wheeled vehicles operating in that part of the world are in need of...

Engineer Paul Green wheels his company's new fully armored combat vehicle over the clay roads and muddy streambeds of the South Carolina backcountry, guns the engine and races over one hill and then the next. "This is designed to be what we thought would be a step up from the Humvee," he shouts as he shifts gears. "This vehicle was never designed to be a direct replacement for the current armored Humvee." But the prototype -- christened the MUV-R (Mine-protected Utility Vehicle/Rapid Deployable) by its manufacturer, Charleston, S.C.-based Force Protection, Inc. -- may well be.

Why is it taking so long to design, develop, produce, and deploy — in adequate numbers — a troop-transporting armored vehicle that would replace the up-armored Humvee in Iraq? I've been asked that question time and again, not by soldiers and Marines who ride in Humvees daily, but by fellow journalists, many of whom have logged time in Iraq or Afghanistan. One reporter said to me it was "criminal negligence" on the part of the White House and the Defense Department. Another referred to it as "the ultimate betrayal" of our soldiers. Despite their time in country, both reporters are...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version December 21, 2005, 8:05 a.m. The “Ultimate Betrayal”? Humvee realities. By W. Thomas Smith Jr. Why is it taking so long to design, develop, produce, and deploy — in adequate numbers — a troop-transporting armored vehicle that would replace the up-armored Humvee in Iraq? I've been asked that question time and again, not by soldiers and Marines who ride in Humvees daily, but by fellow journalists, many of whom have logged time in Iraq or Afghanistan. One reporter said to me it was "criminal negligence" on the part of the...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/20/MNGD8GAJNJ1.DTL

Associated Press FORT LEWIS — After logging thousands of miles during their first two years in Iraq, the Army's Stryker vehicles are getting an overhaul before being sent back with soldiers. The eight-wheeled, armored vehicles are being worked on by mechanics from General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., which made the Strykers and has a $69 million Army contract to restore them. Maintenance is taking place at this post south of Seattle and at a company yard in Auburn. The Strykers arrived home by ship in late October. They were used for a year in Iraq by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd...

OTTAWA (CP) - Three Canadian soldiers and a journalist injured by a bomb in Afghanistan may well have been killed had it not been for the light-armoured vehicle they were travelling in, say military experts and the reporter involved in the blast. "It's lucky they weren't in an Iltis," said Scott Taylor, editor of Esprit de Corps military magazine, referring to the light-duty, open-top jeeps once used by Canada's military in Afghanistan. The soldiers and a foreign journalist were injured Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near their G-Wagon - an enclosed vehicle with armour plating and thick, shock-resistant windows....