It’s time for another collection of recent AFV related articles.  Click on the title to go to the article home page.

IHS Jane’s 360 – Image shows possible new Chinese infantry fighting vehicle

An image posted on online forums in early February shows what appears to be a next-generation Chinese infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) featuring a new front-engined hull and a possible unmanned turret.  If it is a new prototype IFV, it could be a successor to the China North Industries Corporation’s (NORINCO’s) ZBD-04 or later ZDB-04A, which are in service with the Ground Forces of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).  Like the ZBD-04/ZDB-04A, the new IFV hull features six running wheels and an apparent forward mounted engine, but differs in a number of ways, including a less sloped forward glacis.

IHS Jane’s 360 – SAIC rolls out amphibious vehicle prototype for USMC

Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) has unveiled the first of 16 prototypes for the US Marine Corps’ (USMC’s) competitive Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) 1.1 programme during a 21 February ceremony at the company’s facility in Charleston, South Carolina.  SAIC partnered with Singapore Technologies Kinetics (STK) to submit STK’s Terrex 2, which includes a V-shaped hull and space to carry 11 marines with a crew of three (to add additional room to carry two more marines would have required a redesign and added weight that the company deemed unnecessary).

Defense News – There’s a decades-long modernization lag for Army combat vehicles

WASHINGTON — A years-long period of reduced modernization budgets has caused a major lag — potentially up to 30 years for some rides — in upgrading the Army’s combat vehicles, the Army general in charge of the fleet said.  “I can tell you right now the level of investment in my portfolio is unacceptably low,” Maj. Gen. David Bassett said Monday at a Lexington Institute forum on Army rapid acquisition.  The current investment has only allowed the service to make very capable upgrades to its fleet — which would require “decades to touch all of our armored brigade combat team formations,” Bassett said.

Defense News – Army on track to integrate bigger gun on Stryker

The Army is trying to rapidly field Strykers with a bigger gun to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe amid concerns the service is outgunned by Russian counterparts, and so far the program is on track, according to Col. Glenn Dean, the project manager for Stryker.  Congress provided the Stryker program office funding in 2015 and 2016 to field Stryker infantry carrier vehicles with a 30 mm cannon to the regiment in Europe by 2018. A little more than $300 million is allocated for eight prototypes and upgrades to 83 production vehicles, plus spares. General Dynamics Land Systems — the Stryker’s prime contractor — was authorized by the Army to hold a competition to select a gun and turret for the vehicle.

War is Boring – South Korea’s ‘Low Rider’ Tank Is the Ultimate Mountain Fighting Vehicle

The South Korean army has peculiar needs. For one, just across the Demilitarized Zone, North Korea possesses one of the largest tank armies in the world.  In this cauldron of densely packed military forces, both sides share a peninsula that is also very mountainous. During the Korean War, many battles were fought in places such as the Punchbowl, Pork Chop Hill, Old Baldy, Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge, just to name a few.  Any weapon built specifically to exploit the peninsula’s terrain would have an edge. So, when South Korea produced its first domestically designed tank, Seoul took the mountainous terrain into full account.

The National Interest – Taiwan’s Tanks Managed to Do What Hitler’s Mighty Panzers Failed to Do at Normandy

When the Allies launched the amphibious landing in Normandy in 1944, one of their chief fears was that German Panzers would roll down to the beach within twenty-four hours and crush sodden Allied infantry under their tracks. To protect against such an outcome, the Allied airpower ruthlessly scourged road and rail links leading to Normandy, and airborne operations preceding the landing had as a chief objective impeding a German armored counterattack.

DoD Buzz – Army to Give M1 Tank New Ammo, Active Protection System

With the promise of increased defense spending, U.S. Army officials are planning a major upgrade for the M1 Abrams tank as the start of a sweeping effort to modernize the armored vehicles in the service’s heavy brigades.  The initial package of upgrades currently in test will enable to M1 to fire the Advanced Multipurpose, or AMP, round, which can be programmed to deliver devastating effects such as airburst on enemy targets, said Maj. Gen. David Bassett, program executive officer, Ground Combat Systems.

Here is one more video from IHS Jane’s 360 showing one of the weapons systems on display at IDEX 2017, the Chinese PLZ52 SPG.