Lets start off February with a collection of articles from the world wide web related to armored vehicles. Click on the headline to read the full piece.
Defense News – Turkey Launches $500 Million Tank-Upgrade Contest
ANKARA—The Turkish government has officially launched a competition for the upgrade of a batch of 200 German- and US-made battle tanks in the army’s inventory, a contract that analysts estimate to be worth roughly $500 million. Five Turkish companies placed their upgrade bids on Jan. 23. The local bidders are: military electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey’s biggest defense company; missile-maker Roketsan; and armored vehicles manufacturers BMC, Otokar and FNSS. Aselsan and Roketsan are state-controlled companies; BMC, Otokar and FNSS are privately owned.
The Diplomat – More China Tanks for Thailand?
Military cooperation between China and Thailand, the oldest U.S. Asian ally, has deepened somewhat in the past few years amid a downturn in U.S.-Thai relations over rights concerns following the May 2014 coup. Since then, there have been some notable developments, including a first-ever joint air force exercise, planned purchases of equipment from tanks to submarines, as well as discussions about a joint military production facility to advance defense industry cooperation.
Defense News – Political Rift Kills Turkey-Austria Engine Deal
ANKARA, Turkey — Growing political tensions between Ankara and Vienna in recent months have resulted in the termination of an otherwise prospective deal between a Turkish and an Austrian company, both engine specialists. In October 2015, TUMOSAN, a privately owned Turkish engine maker, signed a deal with AVL List, an Austrian firm, for technical support for the engine that the Turkish company had been commissioned to develop. Under the deal, TUMOSAN would get technical support from AVL for the power unit of the Altay, Turkey’s first indigenous, new-generation main battle tank in the making. AVL also would provide know-how for the integration of the engine to the tank.
IHS Jane’s 360 – Netherlands outlines AFV upgrades
The Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) has outlined plans to upgrade a number of its armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) in order to extend their operational lives and enhance capabilities. Details were given by Colonel Eric Molenaar, Head of Material, Army Staff of the RNLA, at the IQPC International Armoured Vehicles 2017 conference held in London from 23 to 26 January. The RNLA is set to upgrade at least part of its CV9035NL fleet in two phases. Under Phase 1, 44 vehicles will be fitted with a hard-kill defensive-aid suite (DAS) under the leadership of BAE Systems Hägglunds.
UPI – U.S. Army tanks being moved to Russian border
Jan. 31 The U.S. Army will send M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks to the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania along Russia’s borders ahead of a NATO operation in the spring. The tanks participated in joint drills between U.S. and Polish forces but some are being moved to the Baltic states to await a deterrence operation set to reassure the United States’ European allies that Washington, D.C., is committed to their defense, The Wall Street Journal reported. German troops are also arriving in Lithuania, British troops are reinforcing positions in Estonia and Canadian troops are being sent to Latvia.
IHS Jane’s 360 – DRDO outlines future MBT requirements
Further details have emerged about India’s plans for the main battle tank (MBT) element of the Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) programme. Requirements for the main armament, powerpack, and mission systems have been revealed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Speaking at the International Armoured Vehicles 2017 conference in London, Dr U. Solomon of the DRDO’s Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) highlighted some of the new requirements for the MBT design, which is intended to replace the Indian Army’s fleet of T-72M1 ‘Ajeya’ MBTs and is scheduled to enter service from the early 2020s.
Reuters – Germany sends tanks to Lithuania for NATO mission
Germany began sending tanks and other equipment to Lithuania on Tuesday as part of a NATO mission to beef up the defense of eastern Europe and send a signal of resolve to Russia, which has denounced the build-up as an act of aggression. The German army command said it was sending about 200 vehicles, including 30 tanks, by train to Lithuania along with 450 troops, the first of whom arrived last week. The transports would continue until late February. Seven decades after the end of World War Two, the movement of German troops to eastern Europe, even on a NATO mission, remains a sensitive issue both in Germany and the region.
IHS Jane’s 360 – Orbital ATK chosen for US Army’s new AMP tank round
Key Points
- The army has selected Orbital ATK to finish development and qualification for its 120 mm AMP tank round
- The AMP round would allow Abrams to carry fewer ammunition types and choose the effect of a chambered round
Orbital ATK has been selected to continue developing a new 120 mm Advanced Multi-Purpose (AMP) round for the US Army’s M1A2 Abrams main battle tank, the Pentagon announced on 23 January. The USD46 million contract is to complete development and qualification of the XM1147 High Explosive Multi-Purpose with Tracer (HEMP-T) round, which was developed with an ammunition data link and programmable multi-option fuze (point detonate with or without delay, or airburst effect).
The National Interest – The Curious Case of the U.S. Army’s M551 Sheridan Light Tank
The Sheridan’s service in Vietnam ended with the withdrawal of the last Armored Cavalry Regiments in 1972, and the Army began phasing the complicated vehicles out of the cavalry units by the late 1970s. However, they remained in airborne formations for lack of a replacement, and were upgraded the M551A1 TTS model with an effective thermal sight for night combat. In 1989, eight to ten Sheridans of the Third Battalion of the Seventy-Third Armored were used in the first and only parachute drop of U.S. tanks into combat by C-130 transports onto Torrijos/Tocumen Airfield.
The tanks, infantry-fighting vehicles, self-propelled howitzer cannons and multiple-launch rocket systems fielded by America’s front-line combat soldiers were developed in the 1970s and first fielded in the 1980s, and the Army does not have any active programs to replace them, according to the Jan. 18 report titled, “Selected Foreign Counterparts of U.S. Army Ground Combat Systems and Implications for Combat Operations and Modernization.” Those U.S. weapons have been routinely upgraded with new technology, but other nations – including rivals Russia and China – have developed entirely new systems in recent years.
The Flying Heritage Collection’s new M48A1 Patton tank has taken the long way around to its final destination. The tank was built in the United States and then sold to the Kingdom of Jordan in Western Asia. Jordan, an ally of the US, UK, and France, received 197 M48 and 200 M48A1 tanks beginning in the mid-1960s. Many Jordanian tanks saw combat during the Six Day War with Israel in 1967. It is unknown where this particular tank was assigned at the time. When newer tanks like the M60 became available, Jordan retired many of its M48s. This tank was a gift to the Flying Heritage Collection from the Royal Tank Museum in Aqaba, Jordan.
The Indian Army is set to deploy over 460 new T-90SM main battle tanks (MBTs) along India’s border with Pakistan, senior Indian defense officials told IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly on January 19. The new T-90SM MBT (other designations T-90AM or T-90MS) is the latest and most modern version of the T-90 (which in turn is a modernized variant of the T-72 MBT), and has specifically been designed for export by Russia. According to IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly, the newly ordered MBTs will supplement 850-900 license-built T-90S Bhishma tanks, divided into 18 regiments, and currently deployed in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab.
The Army has sent a tank and armoured vehicles through the Channel Tunnel for the first time as it looks at ways to dispatch heavy armour quickly to eastern Europe in the event of a crisis with Russia. Five armoured vehicles loaded on wagons were sent through to France soon after midnight on Wednesday as part of the logistics exercise. They completed the 40 minute return journey a few hours later. The drill came as the Army looks for new ways to deploy armour from the UK once it closes its bases in Germany. When the bases are closed at the end of the decade, the Army will have to deploy armoured vehicles from the UK if they are needed by Nato’s rapid reaction force to bolster defences in eastern Europe.
Turkey’s plans to build its Altay main battle tank (MBT) have hit a snag after Tümosan, the planned engine provider, cancelled a key technical support contract with Austria’s AVL List GmbH. The cancellation comes after Austria’s parliament unanimously adopted a non-binding motion that imposed an arms embargo against Turkey in November 2016. As a result conditions were placed on the transfer of technology to Turkey. Austria made the move in response to Turkey’s increasing violation of human rights since the failed military coup attempt in July 2016.
MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russia’s new active protection system Arena-M for T-72 and T-90 tanks is capable of protecting armored vehicles from US Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided (TOW) missiles, Chief Designer of the Machine-Building Design Bureau Valery Kashin told TASS. “According to the information we have on these missiles, the Arena-M will undoubtedly be able to protect a tank from a TOW,” the chief designer said.
“It was in the early 2000s that I had the honor of meeting Mr Hunnicutt at a gathering of tank enthusiasts at the then-Littlefield Collection. Had I known then what I know now, I would have paid much more attention to the genial old chap who seemed to have near-celebrity status amongst my companions, and less to the tanks. Over time, as my interest in the history of armoured vehicles developed, I began to understand why he was the focus of such attention. “Hunnicutt” has become synonymous with being the last word of recorded US armored vehicle development, and until now his works have commanded very high prices on the used-book market, with good reason.
Tank and AFV News 