Supacat is the logical contender for the SOV Lt and makes a lot of sense buying the same vehicle as SASR, SOV heavy to me will be really interesting with the Bushmaster also being a logical contender as well so could be a very interesting few years for the SAS first then regular Army to follow.
The Rft states both barrel lengths anything else is with the Small Arms wing of the Combat School and nobody outside that organisation will know anything concrete.
I don't claim any specialist knowledge but I imagine many of the contenders come with a number of barrel lengths. I think it would be ideal to procure a mix or some spare barrels in various lengths. Long barrels for range in open country (Middle east deployments), standard length as the baseline, and shorter barrels for SF, urban ops, vehicle crews, navy boarding teams, etc.
We have that now with the steyr so no reason why we would'nt have a requirement for future requirement ie tankies, certain ops have short barrels and infantry etc generally have standard length. Considerations should still largely remain the same with the new type.
I have been following LAV 6.0 as well (mainly via Defence Technology review). Aust is looking to upgrade or replace their ASLAVs and M113s, and LAV 6.0 conversion is a contender. If they went down this path, we could maybe try an piggyback off this for a discount. The fact that LAV III's (NZLAV is a version of this) can be converted to LAV 6.0 may be a plus if we are still trying to offload some of our 'excess' stock.
Oh yes I agree pinzgauer is not even in the same league as bushmaster which is why I am suggesting panther to replace that, bushmaster would fill the void in between armoured pinz and NZLAV. Much like how Aus will possibly have hawkei-bushmaster-ASLAV(or new version) we could have a similar org ie light-medium-heavy (NZ context).
shane
Given I haven't noticed an RFI or RFP, I wonder if that is correct? Another possibility it that they will piggy-back on a weapon purchase by another country, and skip any NZ-specific trials and evaluation. If they do that, the current UK adoption of the Glock would be the obvious deal to partner with, as NZ did with the MAN trucks. Both manufactured in Austria, for what its worth.
I watched it last night and there was nothing new in it. The video they showed I had seen before because it was on YouTube at some stage so a mountain out of a midget molehill. There seems to be a campaign of defence force bashing underway again in the MSM with a story the other day claiming obesity in the NZDF.
I don't think anyone can deny there is an obesity epidemic in NZ, especially amongst the maori and pacific island populations. When I was back in NZ I couldn't get over the vast numbers of people waddling around, it was insane, in Norway I'm a fairly big guy, back in NZ I felt like I was about average size.
While this is a bit OT, obesity is an increasingly large problem for much of the developed world. Especially for countries/regions where the average activities are becoming more sedentary, which is not just a Kiwi problem.
Actually that story is quite correct. When the PRT first went to Bamiyan they had leased Toyota Hiace vans which they gas axed the body at the back so the gunner could have a field of fire. They never took vehicles over with them. When the NZSAS went to Afghanistan in 2002 - 03 they had to arrange their own vehicle transport for their long patrols. They had an NCO who was familiar with US Army logistic procedures and had a contact in a US Army vehicle pool in the Middle East. This contact knew of about 6 - 8 Hummers looking for a new home that found there way to NZSAS in Kabul with appropriate accompanying paperwork. Then they acquired a couple of BMW 650 (IIRC) bikes off the German special forces who were returning to Germany and gifted them to the NZSAS. It's criminal that our forces have to do things like that.
loved to have seen the look on the counter person when they handed back the leased Hiace vehicles (Hertz car hire:dance
) "ah can we have our deposit back now thanks"So all the pics of NZSAS pins in a'stan are fom later on then?
The Pins weren't acquired until later.and are you sure that they were SAS ones?
Yes they were definitely NZSAS Pinz 2005 rotation flown direct from Auckland to Bagram Airbase by C17 there are enough photos of them in service in Afghanistan.