Kirruth
Active member
The Independent and Reuters are reporting the award of four contracts as part of the British FRES vehicle development, two on chassis development, two on survivability, all to Anglo American companies.
FRES is an armored vehicle, intended to be transportable in C130Js, able to fulfill a variety of infantry support roles (fighting, engineering, medevac), while being survivable, in terms of being able to resist rpgs and mines. It's also planned to come in variants, wheels and tracks, "tank profile" and "armoured car profile" .
Not many people know about it, but FRES will be the core of British land expeditionary capability from, probably, 2015 and the contract is without a doubt the biggest single British defence procurement project so far.
These awards are really big news (though again, its kind of buried). For one thing, industry people were doubting they would ever happen. And for another, it was generally believed they would go to European contractors, when in fact they went to companies in the UK and to Lockheed.
Personally, I can't wait til the woeful lack of British LAV capability comes to an end. When I see our soldiers coming out the back of a Hercules going into some forsaken place, it will take a major weight off my mind to see FRES vehicles going in with them.
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Kirruth
FRES is an armored vehicle, intended to be transportable in C130Js, able to fulfill a variety of infantry support roles (fighting, engineering, medevac), while being survivable, in terms of being able to resist rpgs and mines. It's also planned to come in variants, wheels and tracks, "tank profile" and "armoured car profile" .
Not many people know about it, but FRES will be the core of British land expeditionary capability from, probably, 2015 and the contract is without a doubt the biggest single British defence procurement project so far.
These awards are really big news (though again, its kind of buried). For one thing, industry people were doubting they would ever happen. And for another, it was generally believed they would go to European contractors, when in fact they went to companies in the UK and to Lockheed.
Personally, I can't wait til the woeful lack of British LAV capability comes to an end. When I see our soldiers coming out the back of a Hercules going into some forsaken place, it will take a major weight off my mind to see FRES vehicles going in with them.
---
Kirruth