Along with an increasing international focus on soldier system enhancements, the international arena provides many representative examples of activities targeting both tracked and wheeled tactical vehicle fleets.

 

International Land Force Developments: Norway

Norway, for example, marked 2012 with the largest acquisition project within the Norwegian army since the end of the Cold War.

Announced by the Norwegian Parliament on June 14, 2012, the project, awarded to main supplier BAE Systems Hägglunds, involves both new and upgraded vehicles. In addition, Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace, Thales Norway, and Vinghøg are major subcontractors in areas such as computers, communications, and armaments.

Program representatives noted that the Norwegian army currently has 103 CV-90 Infantry Fighting Vehicles acquired from the mid-1990s onward, and that the procurement encompasses a combination of new CV-90 hulls, upgraded and redesigned existing CV-90s from the current fleet of 103, and upgraded turrets.

The end result will be the delivery of a total of 146 remanufactured and new CV-90s, with deliveries taking place between 2015 and 2017. In addition, the program will include unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, various ground sensors, and communications systems.

The 146 systems will include a total of 74 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, 15 Command Vehicles, 16 Combat Engineering Vehicles, 16 Multi-Role Vehicles, 21 Reconnaissance vehicles, and four vehicles for training purposes. The Multi-Role Vehicles will serve in various roles, including mortar carrier and logistics vehicle.

 

International Land Force Developments: Germany

Stemming from lessons learned during current international land force operations in Afghanistan, one representative example of a comprehensive force protection package was announced in April 2011, when Germany’s Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB) contracted with Rheinmetall to supply the Bundeswehr with several different elements of force protection technology.

One element of the force protection package involved the modernization of four Bergepanzer 3 (BPz 3) Büffel (Buffalo) armored recovery vehicles. The vehicles are based on a Leopard 2 tank chassis and were jointly developed on behalf of the German and Dutch armies. The system is used for recovering and towing a range of tracked vehicles.

The new Büffel/Buffalo enhancement package was designed to provide the vehicle crews with effective protection against ballistic threats, land mines, and improvised explosive devices facing International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Afghanistan. Elements of the package include optimizing ballistic protection features to protect the crew from rocket-propelled grenades and light anti-tank weapons, reinforcing the floor of the hull with additional anti-mine protection to shield the crew from blasts occurring under the vehicle, and equipping the vehicle flanks with “special protection elements to attenuate the blast wave caused by roadside bombs.”

Other force protection components include a German Route Clearing Package (GRCP). Each of the seven systems in the GRCP consists of four vehicles, including: one for detection; one for clearing explosive devices; a command vehicle; and a transport vehicle.

Within the GRCP “system of systems,” the role of mine detection is performed by Rheinmetall’s remote control Wiesel (Weasel), equipped with a newly developed built-in dual sensor with ground-penetration radar and a metal detector. The Fuchs/Fox 1A8 armored transport vehicle provides a highly mobile command post, equipped with workstations for operating the remote control systems as well as systems for evaluating signals from the dual sensor.

Rheinmetall GRCP descriptions add that the remote-controlled MW240 “Mini MineWolf” [MineWolf Systems, Freienbach, Switzerland], “which is already in service with the Swiss Army, will be used for neutralizing hazardous unexploded ordnance. Depending on the mission requirements, the 6-ton vehicle can be equipped with a robot arm, mine plough or bulldozer blade. An integrated video system enables the crew onboard the Fuchs/Fox command vehicle to monitor operations at all times.”

“Multi FSA” logistics vehicles from Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) serve as the GRCP system’s transport vehicles.

In parallel with the force protection/survivability enhancements, Germany is also in the process of enhancing its battlefield lethality through the fielding of the new Puma infantry fighting vehicle.