Here is our final installment of AFV News from around the Net for 2016.  Click on the article headline to go to the full piece.

DefenseNews – Turkish Armor Makers in Talks to Produce 1,000 Vehicles for Qatar

ANKARA, Turkey — A new multinational venture featuring Turkish, German and Malaysian manufacturers is in talks with Qatar to produce 1,000 armored vehicles — just one component of an aggressive marketing strategy that targets Gulf, Middle Eastern and Middle Asian markets.  In August, Turkish manufacturer BMC, Germany’s Rheinmetal and Malaysia’s Etika Strategi joined forces to launch a Turkish subsidiary. RBSS, the new joint venture, will offer armored solutions to the Turkish and other militaries.  The companies say the joint venture would focus on wheeled and tracked armored vehicles.

UPI – Ukraine’s Ukroboronprom to increase armored vehicle production

KIEV, Ukraine, Dec. 15 (UPI) — Ukraine’s state-owned defense contractor Ukroboronprom announced plans to create a new production workshop for its BTR-3 armored vehicles.  The new site will aim to boost vehicle production, reduce manufacturing costs, and explore new technological opportunities, according to a statement released by the company. Ukroboronprom calls the move an important step forward for armored vehicles produced in the country.

IHS Jane’s 360 – Rostec takes control of armoured vehicle group Uralvagonzavod

Russian state-owned technology conglomerate Rostec has taken over heavy armoured vehicles manufacturer Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) following a decree from President Vladimir Putin on 27 December.  The corporation said the move is likely to be the precursor to the formation of an integrated armoured vehicle business.  Rostec will acquire 100% of the stock of UVZ, the manufacturer of the T-14 Armata main battle tank, in a process to be complete in 18 months, the company said.  Rostec director general Sergei Chemezov said that the handover of UVZ would allow formation of an armoured vehicle holding likely to include other enterprises including infantry fighting vehicles producer Kurganmashzavod.

IHS Jane’s 360 – Netherlands orders Leopard 2 bridgelayers

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) announced on 21 December that it has been awarded a contract to supply five Leguan armoured vehicle launched bridges (AVLBs) to the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA). Under the terms of this agreement these Leguan AVLBs, converted from existing Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT) chassis, will be delivered to the RNLA between 2019 and 2020. The new AVLBs will replace the RNLA’s existing Biber AVLBs, which are based on a Leopard 1 MBT chassis.  KMW said the contract had been placed by the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment (BAAINBw) on behalf of the Dutch Procurement Office (DMO), but did not specify the value of the deal.

Global Research – U.S. Army Armored Vehicle Developments in the 21st Century. Military Analysis

On October 12, 1999, then acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Eric Shinseki, outlined his vision of the future of the U.S. Army when he stated that it must be, “light enough to deploy, lethal enough to fight and win, survivable enough to return safely home . . . and lean and efficient enough to sustain themselves whatever the mission.”  His comments echoed the desire of Donald Rumsfeld, acting Secretary of Defense the following year, to totally transform the U.S. Military into a force that could deploy and fight faster than ever before, anywhere in the world, and that could leverage new technologies and information systems as force multipliers that would ensure that this lighter and more nimble force could prevail over existing conventional forces of adversarial nations. This concept and the $200 billion dollar defense acquisition program that would aim to bring it to reality were christened the “Future Combat System” (FCS).

Defense News – US Refutes Israeli Claims of Lebanese APC Transfers to Hizbollah

TEL AVIV – The US government is refuting Israeli assessments that US-supplied troop carriers to Lebanon have made their way to Hizbollah forces operating in Syria on behalf of the Bashar Assad regime.  The State Department and the Pentagon insist that Hizbollah-flagged vehicles in question – photographed last month in the Syrian city of Qusayr – did not come from Lebanese Armed Forces stocks.  “The Department of Defense assesses that a small number of M113s have likely been in Hizbollah’s inventory for a number of years and could have come from a range of different sources, as the M113s are common in the region. But they did not come from the LAF,” said Christopher Sherwood, a Pentagon spokesman.