Lithuania favoring Boxer 8×8 IPV to replace M113

July 20, 2015 by 2 Comments

ifvJane’s is reporting that the Lithuania’s military has recommended the country buys the ARTEC Boxer 8×8 infantry fighting vehicle.  ARTEC is a joint venture between Krauss-Maffei Wegmann & Rheinmetall MAN. The new wheeled IFV will equip two battalions of the ‘Iron Wolf’ mechanised infantry brigade to replace obsolete M113 tracked armored personnel carriers. Each battalion will consist of three companies, each with 10-12 IFVs, for a total of 60-72 IFVs. The program award will be biggest contract ever for the Lithuanian Armed Forces, worth about  $502 million. Delivery is to begin in 2017 and continue until 2020.  Several companies were invited for negotiations, including: Elbit, FNSS, KMW/ARTEC, Lockheed Martin UK, Nexter, Patria, Otokar, Oto Melara/Iveco, General Dynamics Land Systems and General Dynamics European Land Systems.

Full article here.

Here is a video of Jane’s reporter Christopher Foss describing the Boxer in 2014.

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Book Review: Steel Steeds Christie

July 17, 2015 by 1 Comment

31AdPdFN25L._SL500_BO1,204,203,200_A couple weeks ago we had posted some reviews of the book “Steel Steeds Christie” by Edward Christie in the 1986 issues of ARMOR.  Steel Steeds Christie is a rare and largely forgotten book and it generated an overwhelming negative reaction from knowledgeable AFV historians at the time of it’s publication.  However, it remains one of the few books dedicated exclusively to the topic of Walter J. Christie, one of the most important figures in post WWI tank development.  Shortly after posting the old ARMOR reviews of the book, friend of the site “Volketten” informed us that he had recently purchased a copy of this hard to find volume.  He wrote up a description of book which we have posted below.

“Steel Steeds Christie by J.Edward Christie

a book review by Vollketten

This is a difficult book to review because I really wanted it to be good. The designs of Walter Christie have interested me for quite some time so I got hold of a copy of this rather hard to find and far too expensive book with an inbuilt bias to want to like it. And that bias continued despite reading the rather unpleasant reviews of it in old editions of Armor Magazine which failed to dissuade me from getting a copy. This continued right until I opened it and started reading.

[Read more…]

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Ukraine accepts modernized T-80

July 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment

20150717060241_1Jane’s is reporting that the Ukrainian military has received a batch of eight modernized T-80 MBTs from the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (KMDB).  The article notes that the T-80 tanks will soon be committed to combat operations in east Ukraine.  Specifically, the T-80s will be delivered to a mobile armored unit of the Ukrainian airborne forces.  The modernization work is stated to have included changes to the vehicle’s turrets, hulls, and the installation of Kontakt explosive reactive armour (ERA).

Full article here.

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Israeli “Pereh” tank officially revealed.

July 17, 2015 by 3 Comments

Earlier this week the Israeli Defense Forces officially declassified the “Pereh”  (Wild) anti tank guided missile launcher vehicle. Based on the hull of the M48 tank, the Pereh features a sizable turret  with a fake gun barrel intended to hid its true mission of launching Tamuz ATGMs (also known as the Spike.)  The large bustle on the back of the turret pops up to reveal the launcher tubes, of which there are twelve.  According to Israel Defense, the Pereh has been in service for 30 years (!).  Much speculation has been made in various online forums over the past few years as pictures of these vehicles have been leaked.  Thus far it does not appear that any articles have been published in English on this vehicle.  However, for those that are curious, Israel Defense has an article that is relatively readable using Google translate.  Below is a gallery of some of the pictures of the Pereh that have surfaced on the internet, mostly drawn from this Israeli forum.

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US Army to move toward “pure-fleet” of M88A2 Hercules ARVs

July 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment

m88-herculesArmy-Technology.com is reporting that BAE has received a contract from the US Army worth $110 million to upgrade 36 M88A1 recovery vehicles to the M88A2 Hercules standard.  BAE Systems Recovery Program director John Tile said: “The HERCULES is an integral part of the US Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) and essential to its recovery missions as the fleet becomes heavier.  This award continues the Army’s stated objective to pure-fleet its M88s to the more capable HERCULES configuration.”  According to a BAE press release, work on the contract is expected to begin immediately and will take place primarily at the company’s York, Pennsylvania, and Aiken, South Carolina, facilities. Deliveries will begin in January 2017 and continue through October 2017.

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France privatizes Nexter, maker of AMX Leclerc

July 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Defense News is reporting that the French Government has voted to privatize the state owned land weapons manufacturer Nexter.  Nexter is the producer of the AMX:Leclerc MBT.  This move is seen as one of the steps in forging a partnership between Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.  This new joint holding company would be named KMW And Nexter Together, or KANT, and it would be a European leader in land armaments with annual sales of almost US $2.2 billion.  At the July 9 board meeting of Giat, the state-owned holding company of Nexter, 12 out of 18 board members voted in favor of the link-up, while three trade union representatives abstained and three voted against.  It has been reported that one of the goals of this partnership will be to create the next generation of European MBT.

Article link here.

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Video: Russian tank transportation fail

July 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Here is an amusing video of a tank transporter in Russia learning a harsh lesson regarding inertia and center of gravity.  The fun starts at 53 seconds.

(thanks to Belesarius at SH forum for pointing this video out)

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Video: ASCOD APC demonstration and test drive

July 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

This video appeared on DefenseWebTV last month featuring the ASCOD APC variant.

Vehicle description:

The ASCOD is a new generation of tracked armored vehicle designed and developed jointly by the companies Santa Bárbara Sistemas (Pizarro) from Spain and Steyr from Austria which are now business units of General Dynamics European Land Systems. Survivability, mobility and reliability are the main features of this modular medium weight armored vehicle. ASCOD stands for speed, optimal protection and immediate performance day and night regardless of weather conditions. The ASCOD can be easily transported by military transport aircraft. The first version of the vehicle is in service in Austria under the name of Ulan and in Spain under the name of Pizarro. The latest variant of the ASCOD was selected in September 2014 by the British army to replace the old CVRT family under the name of Scout SV. The SCOUT SV of British Army program includes six variants: Scout Reconnaissance, Protected Mobility Reconnaissance Support (PMRS), Command and Control, Engineering Reconnaissance, Repair, and Recovery. Each SCOUT SV platform variant will be a highly-agile, tracked, medium-weight armored fighting vehicle, providing British troops with state-of-the-art best-in-class protection.

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Unusual Iranian AFVs

July 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

13940126150820252_PhotoLBack in April, three rather interesting and somewhat suspect vehicles from the research center in Tehran were displayed as part of Iran’s “Army Day” event.  We somehow missed this news back when it was first posted over at the Tanknet forum, but we felt it was sufficiently amusing that it warranted a post here.  Better late than never as they say.  The three vehicles showcased include the Nazir UGV, Fallaqh reconnaissance vehicle, and Aghareb “light tank.”

First off, we have the Nazir UGV: 600 kg payload, 2 km combat radius.

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Fallaqh: Reported 400 km combat range, four ton(ne) weight, one 12.7 mm RWS, a one-man crew, and a top speed of 100 km/h off-road, 130 km/h road.  This vehicle looks suspiciously like the Howe and Howe Ripsaw “luxury tank.”

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Last but not least, the Aghareb Light Tank.  This appears to be a BTR-60 with an upgraded engine mounting a turret of some sort armed with what looks to be the 90mm gun from an M47 tank.  Perhaps these guns were left over after Iran upgraded their M47 tanks to the Sabalan.

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Special thanks to the guys at the tanknet “Iranian tanks” thread for posting this info.  More photos of these vehicles are available here, here, and here.

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Thai M60A3 with extra wood armor

July 9, 2015 by 1 Comment

Defence Blog has posted some unusual pictures of an up-armoring scheme by the Thailand Army on their M60A3.  This consists of a metal framework along the side of the vehicle filled with….logs.  Check it out.

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No other information is given in the blog post, just pictures.  One has to wonder exactly how effective this wood armor is and what threat it is intended to negate.  More photos available here.

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