Hi Reece hopefully this will answer your post.
B class replacement priorities aside, wouldn't there then be a window of opportunity to squeeze in a number of LOV (A) early replacements?
For Army to replace the LOV(A) would require a business case to MOD etc that will drag on for ever our opportunity to get Bushy was at the M113A1 replacement programme back in 2000 – 2003 time period during the tracks vs wheel debate.
One of the options purposed back then was for both Infantry Battalions to be equipped with Bushmaster & QAMR to get the M8 light tank with a M113 upgrade, however the report back on the Bushmaster was not very encouraging to be fair it was early days in its development cycle and the M8 suffered early termination.
Eg maybe a dozen or two V shaped hull vehicles (depending on the requirement etc)?
There are some things that I just can’t comment on, but I can at least say this to hold 24 MRAPs the following has to be identified before a business case can be submitted;
1. What role will they fulfil in the Force structure post 2015 - 2020?
2. What doctrine will they be based on or fill? Armoured, Infantry or CSS?
3. What’s the training needs analysis (gap) that has to be identified before implementation,
4. What extra training for VM, armourers, supply, drivers, Infantry etc is required as identified by the needs analysis,
5. How many spares do we hold in the system? Or do we order when required,
6. How many will TRADOC / LOTC hold for training purposes? and
7. Last but not least how much taking into account the above is it going to cost? And where is that coming from noting there will not be any extra funding from Government.
The list just go on and on we are lucky to be frank or we could’ve ended up like the US/UK who are struggling to integrate there MRAPs into their force constructs and are finding it extremely difficult hence the decision to mothball the majority of them in the US.
(... still have visions of NZ turning up to a future joint ANZAC operation and the kiwis turn up with inadequate gear & turn to the Aussies for help - not a good look .... ) :sick
I don’t agree Reece that we have inadequate gear with the Aus Army, pound for pound we are equipped with the same or in some cases better equipment than they are (RNZIR/RNZAC), Our Infantry is better equipped with NVE, Spt weapons, PPE the Armoured boys have a vehicle that is second only to the M1A1 in RAAC service very few ASLAV have the same turret as us yet our LAV is also bigger and quieter with more potential for growth. We are part of the LAVIII support & improvement group and are currently leveraging off this group to improve our mid-life system improvements with US/Canada.
The greatest weakness in our Army is the inability of CSS to keep up with LAV, to protect itself or to supply the Front line. Our fleet is based on third or second line support we currently have nothing that can provide the first line support, it’s one of the reasons we did not go to Uruzgan with the Aussie Task Force IMO as our CSS would have too beg steal or borrow equipment to conduct CLP (Cbt Log patrols), now this is where the B Class vehicles replacement is so important to Army some of the fleet will be V shaped and fully armoured to deploy at short notice to provide first line spt, the rest will be used for major exercises or in an emergency upgrade for deployment. The training fleet will be the same model but fully COTS in accordance with some of the issues I listed above.
This will also include the Gun tractors for 16 Fd Regt so a vehicle will come into service with far better protection than the U1700L or MB2228 currently it just won’t be general issue, If I was a betting man I would say we are looking at MAN going off the Engineer bridging vehicle in service now very awesome for its size and X country ability plus its protection as well.
CD
