News today on FRES reconnaissance vehicle

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citizen578

New Member
MoD drives ahead with FRES

MoD drives ahead with FRES - Defence Management

The MoD continues to press ahead with the Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) despite the programme's past failings.

BAE and General Dynamics will be invited to submit bids for the FRES Scout vehicle in the coming days. The contract is valued at £2bn and will replace the 600 Scimitar and Spartan armoured vehicles.

After the well documented failings of the FRES Utility vehicle programme, it was largely believed that FRES was dead or had been shelved for an extended period of time. The utility vehicle contract was awarded to General Dynamics in spring 2008 after a series of delays. But the company refused to release the rights to the design of the Piranha V. After spending £132m on the programme, the MoD scrapped the deal last December.

But now the MoD and minister for defence equipment and support Quentin Davies are moving forward with the programme despite the past problems, a £1.1bn budget deficit, and a strong demand for armoured vehicles which are ready for operations right away.

Funding for FRES is guaranteed and the MoD expects proposals from BAE and General Dynamics by September. A decision will allegedly be made by March with deliveries beginning just four years later in 2014.

The Conservative Party however has expressed scepticism over the FRES programme and could scrap the contracts next year if they are elected to government. The MoD budget is already under immense strain and the need for funding current operations is greater than ever before.

Industry leaders have expressed concerns that the programme could be scrapped at the last minute or put back on the shelf if it is deemed to expensive or the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review says that the MoD does not need it.

The Commons Defence Select Committee called the FRES programme "a fiasco" and said it "wasted both its [ the MoD's] and industry's time and money."

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The highlighted section would suggest that it's still the CV90 and ASCOD which will form the hull (at least). The MoD's already said it wants a CTWS equipped turret, which will probably be the same as the one fitted to the updated Warrior.
Good news overall. :)
 
R

riksavage

Banned Member
Good news for once:

FRES Recce will be decided before the next election in 2010 - first quarter, either CV90 or ASCOD. Which ever is chosen will decide the future of most UK tracked vehicles, including a future 120mm LOS version? Likely both tenderers will offer a 'shortened and lowered hull format' fitted with the new upgraded 40mm Warrior turret. I sincerely hope the 'lowered and shortened hull' factor doesn't end up costing a fortune and causing excessive delays?

Also the UK is starting to introduce FIST elements to Afghanistan to improve situational awareness. They include the following:

The full FIST package will consist of nearly eleven thousand suites of equipment, comprising the following elements:

• Thermal Sights
• Close Quarter Battle Sights
• Commanders' Target Locating Systems
• Lightweight Day Sights
• Underslung Grenade Launcher Sights
• Underslung Grenade Launcher Fire Control Systems
• Ruggedised Digital Cameras
• Lightweight Infantry Periscopes.*

*Noted with interest the last item - 'Lightweight Infantry Periscopes' - sounds like a throwback to WWI & II where periscopes were common, providing observation from protected cover.

If you look at the ordr quantities there's basically emough for taining and equiping of a division (12,000 troops). Focus being who ever is on or preparing for tours in Afghanistan.

FIST thermal sight - 4,111 units made by Qioptiq

Lightweight day sight - 10,835 units made by ELCAN (includes built-in range finder)

Close quarter battlesight - 19,122 made by Shield

Underslung grenade launcher (UGL) sight - 784 units, made by Istec

UGL fire control system - 2,090 units, made by Vectronix

Commander’s target locator - 2,471 units, made by Vectronix

Lightweight infantry periscope - 856 units, made by Uniscope

Ruggedised digital camera - 856 units, made by Olympus

Conversion of existing Maxikite 2s & common weapon sights to meet FIST requirements 4,176 units, made by Qioptiq

Provision of warehousing, distribution & asset management services - Thales UK

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Equipment and Logistics | New targeting technology for troops in Afghanistan
 
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V

Vajt

New Member
riksavage said:
Good news for once:

...Which ever is chosen will decide the future of most UK tracked vehicles, including a future 120mm LOS version? ...
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I would imagine the 120mm LOS would be the one they have already shown, the CV90120-T (and same turret for the ASCOD).

-----JT-----
 
harryriedl

harryriedl

Active Member
Verified Defense Pro
riksavage said:
Good news for once:

FRES Recce will be decided before the next election in 2010 - first quarter, either CV90 or ASCOD. Which ever is chosen will decide the future of most UK tracked vehicles, including a future 120mm LOS version? Likely both tenderers will offer a 'shortened and lowered hull format' fitted with the new upgraded 40mm Warrior turret. I sincerely hope the 'lowered and shortened hull' factor doesn't end up costing a fortune and causing excessive delays?
Click to expand...
curious about 120mm LOS i haven't seen this being part of the order before. Because the CVR(T) doesn't have a mortar variant so is this replacing the mortar variant of FV432
 
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O

outsider

New Member
I sincerely hope the 'lowered and shortened hull' factor doesn't end up costing a fortune and causing excessive delays?
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I wonder if they would be better off just sticking with the existing hull, rather than spending time and money trying to modify it. Also the extra space in the existing hull might come in usefull.
 
F

Firn

Active Member
This really seems to be great news, I commented in italic.


FIST thermal sight - 4,111 units made by Qioptiq

The TS should greatly increase the ability to detect camouflaged targets behind natural and light cover, both at day and night. Finally the smallest indipendent units might be equipped with them.

Lightweight day sight - 10,835 units made by ELCAN (includes built-in range finder)

Hopefully the provide enough magnification too

Close quarter battlesight - 19,122 made by Shield

Underslung grenade launcher (UGL) sight - 784 units, made by Istec

UGL fire control system - 2,090 units, made by Vectronix

Given the importance of the 40mm UGL in the current battles and the weight of the ammunition a good UGL sight and FCS are IMHO a no-brainer

Commander’s target locator - 2,471 units, made by Vectronix

This seems to be something which I advocated in my thread about the equipment making an impact for the infantry. Vectronix makes some fine light toys which enable to quickly geolocalize a target - perfect to close the sensor-shooter loop and to make it less error-prone.

Lightweight infantry periscope - 856 units, made by Uniscope

Giving a soldier the ability to calmly observe the enemy is an excellent mean to increase the effectivness of the infantry.

Ruggedised digital camera - 856 units, made by Olympus

If it can fit on (most) optical instruments carried by the soldiers (spective, periscope, binos) and can be quickly shared it will be an fine addition

Conversion of existing Maxikite 2s & common weapon sights to meet FIST requirements 4,176 units, made by Qioptiq
 
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Firn

Active Member
Additional information:


A review of the purchase by the Register




FIST thermal sight - 4,111 units made by Qioptiq - LINK

The TS should greatly increase the ability to detect camouflaged targets behind natural and light cover, both at day and night. Finally the smallest indipendent units might be equipped with them.

Lightweight day sight - 10,835 units made by ELCAN (includes built-in range finder) - LINK


UGL fire control system - 2,090 units, made by Vectronix - NO LINK

Given the importance of the 40mm UGL in the current battles and the weight of the ammunition a good UGL sight and FCS are IMHO a no-brainer


Commander’s target locator - 2,471 units, made by Vectronix - LINK

This seems to be something which I advocated in my thread about the equipment making an impact for the infantry. Vectronix makes some fine light toys which enable to quickly geolocalize a target - perfect to close the sensor-shooter loop and to make it less error-prone.

Under this programme, MOSKITO, the newest member in the family of Vectronix hand-held products, will be utilized as the new Commander’s Target Locator (CTL). The multi-function device combines all essential day and night viewing, measuring and geo-location functions into one compact and user friendly device weighing less than 1.2kg, including its commercially available batteries.

The Rapid Acquisition Aiming Module RAAM, jointly developed by Vectronix and Wilcox Industries, will fulfill the FIST Underslung Grenade Launcher Fire Control System (UGL-FCS) requirement. RAAM instantly calculates the distance, angle of declination or inclination, and adjusts the point of aim accordingly. The device performs in daylight as well as darkness and drastically increases the hit probability of identified targets.

“This major award is a fantastic launching contract and a prestigious reference for our new MOSKITO and RAAM products and extends the product portfolio of both Vectronix and Sagem to be selected by the major Soldier Modernization Programs” said Mr. Jean Harter, CEO of Vectronix.

Vectronix has been working closely with Thales and the MoD for the past several years to provide an integrated solution meeting the requirements of the customer. This contract is the latest example of Vectronix equipment being supplied to the UK MoD. In 2007, Vectronix supplied already a significant number of their PLRF 15C Pocket Laser Range Finders for the Sniper System Improvement (SSI) program.
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I wrote in the thread about equipment making an impact on the effectivness of the infantry:

The squad AFO or spotter.

Currently only the FO the ability to geolocate and laze targets. However especially against multiple targets the ability to queue them up rapidly accelerates the firecycle for heavy firepower, mortars and CAS.

He also supports the Grenadiers and AT-gunner with accurate ranges making the burdensome rounds count. DM/Sniper also profit from precise ranging.

With no targets in sights he observes the environment with a variable (around 20-60x) spotting scope.

He carries the standard AC with compact sound suppressor and variable/standard optic (roughly 2-6x). If he acts as secundary ammo carrier he might use only PDW.

Performance/weight

This squad member should carry at most as much as a riflemen. The good spotter scope with light tripod and the geolocating Moskito.

This is perhaps the most effective addition to a squad, enabling to integrate fire support by AFV, CAS and IDF assets far better and faster than with a single FO for a whole platoon. This "outsourcing" of heavy firepower increases the fighting power greatly and must be used to lessen the burden of the infantry.
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F

Firn

Active Member
UGL fire control system - 2,090 units, made by Vectronix

Given the importance of the 40mm UGL in the current battles and the weight of the ammunition a good UGL sight and FCS are IMHO a no-brainer. The system should be rather similar to one of the M320, at least it has quite similar capabilities.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e88Vr9Dnicc&feature=player_embedded"]M320 UGL[/ame]
 
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