British Army's FRES project moves along

R

riksavage

Banned Member
FRES delayed AGAIN! This time for commercial reasons, statement as follows:

Baroness Taylor Minister for Defence Equipment and Support said:

"The trials were successfully completed on schedule but it is important that we get this decision right as the FRES programme has a vital role to play in the future of the Army. A technical recommendation has been produced and there will now be a brief period of work to clarify the commercial implications of the proposals, following which one vehicle will be announced as the preferred design to continue through to the next stage of the FRES programme.

"This is a significant achievement and builds on the progress we have already made including the recent selection of the Boeing-Thales team to lead the integration of systems across the FRES programme."

We can expect to wait at least three more months according to reliable sources. Also because the MOD is now 1bln adrift, the initial order will be cut to only 700 vehicles.
 
B

buglerbilly

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
Nobody knows as nobody here is in the UK Government.

Drayson's resignation has at least something to do with this (rumour is he wanted the French VBCI but this didn't please his Master, Brown) but the prime driving factor is Exchequer resistance to ANY military programme and the need to spend money, basically because they are in the smelly stuff and trying to cut Big Budget programmes.

To an extent this may work for the Army's benefit, potentially that is. The 7000-1,000 vehicles would serve as a very useful interim vehicle and allow BAE's/GD's hybrids to come back to the fore later as the technology matures.

Some of the newspaper comments about not being C-130 compatible etc. are so stupid as to be idiotic. All the so-called "failure-to-perform" comments are just so much smoke hiding the fact this is a fund-driven problem.
 
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