Below the Turret Ring articles

It’s been a while since we checked in with the blog Below the Turret Ring to see what they have been up to.  Here are some recent posts of theirs from the last couple months.  As always, some nice indepth descriptions of the latest trends in AFV development.  Click on the headline to go to the full blog post.

Hardkill APS: US Army buys Trophy, Europe is testing systems

On the 29th September 2017, the US Army has decided to purchase an unknown quantity of Trophy systems as urgent material request. General Dynamics Land Systems is responsible for fitting the system to the M1A2 SEP v2 main battle tanks (MBTs) of an Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT). It was not revealed yet, if all ninety Abrams tanks of the ABCT will receive the Tropy APS – but it seems rather likely. The Jerusalem Post claims that the system has an estimated costs of about $350,000 USD per tank. By March 2019 all of the M1A2 SEP v2 covered by the contract are expected to have received the Trophy APS. The tanks are planned to be deployed to Europe by 2020.

Russia upgrades BMP-2 and BMD-2 IFVs

The Russian Army has contracted the KPB Tula Instrument Design Burea for the upgrade of 540 old BMP-2 and BMD-2 infanty fighting vehicles (IFVs). The complete scope of the upgrade is not known, but it is confirmed that both vehicles will receive upgraded turrets – or “combat modules” in the official Russian military lingo. The BMP-2 will be fitted with the B05Ya01 Berezhok combat module, while the BMD-2 will receive the lighter Bereg combat module.

Czech Army prefers Puma, searches T-72 replacement and miscellaneous

In August an article on the Czech IFV program was published here. A long period of writing and more recent news from the Czech Republic have made the speculation and information on the possible contenders outdated. The Czech government asked a total of nine contenders to participate in the tender for the BMP-2 replacement. Apparently neither the Šakal IFV or the Wolfdog were considered by the army as proper replacement for the BMP-2s. The following IFVs were seen as possible replacement, which is why the manufacturers were invited to participate in the bidding process for the contract:

New Polish AFVs revealed at MSPO

At the currently ongoing MSPO 2017 defence exhibition in Poland, a number of new combat vehicle prototypes were presented for the first time to the public. These vehicles include new main battle tank (MBT) variants, the Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), that is currently being developed for the Polish Army, aswell as various wheeled vehicles such as proposed variants of the Rosomak (locally produced Patria AMV).

Which new IFV for the Czech Army?

According to Jane’s IHS, the Czech Army is actively looking for a replacement of the aging Soviet-made BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). Therefore a number of companies has been expected to bid for the contract to deliver a total of 200 new vehicles to the Czech Republic. A number of competitors has shown vehicles at the IEDT 2017 exhibition in Brno (also known as Brünn in the German speaking countries), four vehicles were later photographed during Czech Army trials. The decision on which vehicle to adopt might affect other international tenders such as the Australian LAND 400 phase 3 program.

More T-90 and BMPT contracts

Recently it has been reported that Russia has opted to purchase a small number of BMPT fire support vehicles following the combat experiences in Syria. Previously the BMPT had been rejected by the Russian Army, partly due to the T-15 version of the next-generation Armata family of combat vehicles being considered to handle the same taks while being an IFV with enough space to transport nine dismounts. The BMPT ordered by Russia is an improved model that has been described as the BMPT-2, a name that confusingly has sometimes also used in blogs and forums to describe another variant.