Tag: FRES
The Need to Rethink FRES SV
A guest post from Monty After reading your excellent article on FRES, I think we have every reason to question the suitability of the ASCOD 2 vehicle that has been selected to replace CVR(T). It is as large as a Warrior IFV but doesn’t do anything that a Warrior couldn’t do if it were to [...]
The Future of the British Army 07 – ISTAR and Formation Reconnaissance (02) A Sensible Future
In the previous post I looked at a few issues that might influence equipment and structure decisions. Do we employ stealth or fight for information, have organic or non organic reconnaissance units and what is the relative importance of secondary roles that reconnaissance units tend to get used for. If the answer to the first [...]
A Brief History of FRES
As a warm up for the next ‘Future of the British Army’ post in which FRES will of course feature this is a brief(ish) look at the rather shabby history of the omnishambles that is the Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) Some of this content has appeared before on Think Defence but this is an [...]
Why FRES UV Still Matters
There are numerous UK examples of worst-in-class defence procurement. SA80, Nimrod AEW 3, Chinook Mk3 and Bowman C41 tactical communication system immediately spring to mind. While Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) have enabled limited purchases of new weapons and equipment to be fast-tracked, such as Osprey body armour or the L129A1 Sharpshooter rifle, we still seem [...]
What Does a CVR(T) Replacement Look Like – Part 1
As we have seen in previous posts there seems to be some uncertainty about FRES Scout, whilst there is no doubt it will be an improvement over CVR(T) in terms of protection, sensors and survivability, this comes at a significant cost. It is significantly heavier and larger. This means we can only deploy it by [...]
CVR(T) – What are we losing?
In many armed forces the role of formation reconnaissance is carried out by heavy armoured vehicles, either Main Battle Tanks or modified infantry combat vehicles actually fighting for information instead of being stealthy. The real stealthy role is often fulfilled by very small wheeled vehicles and there are a number of competing doctrines that dictate [...]
CVR(T) – The Sequel
Jane’s are reporting that the MoD are in negotiation with BAe to re-manufacture CVR(T) hulls. WTF When I looked at the history of the CVR(T) I described how the programme had its inception in the 1960 Armoured Vehicle Reconnaissance project which turned into Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance. First prototypes were produced in 1967 and accapted into service [...]
Quick, Spend It Now
So, General (BOWMAN) Dynamics have been named as preferred bidder for the demonstration phase of the Specialist Vehicle Recce Block 1. The Common Base Platform will also form the basis for a range of other variants. Conveniently forgetting the last 20 years of MoD bungling, Chief of Defence Material, Sir Kevin O’Donoghue, commented on the [...]
FRES Scout – Spot the Difference
Sorry for the length of this post, it’s difficult to summarise a topic that is so detailed. Put the kettle on and bear with me. You don’t see them these days but spot the difference competitions used to be very common in newspapers and magazines, so in a nod to nostalgia, I thought it would [...]
FRES Scout – Is the GD ASCOD the Winner?
The FT are reporting this morning that General Dynamics has won the competition to fulfill the FRES Scout requirement, winning against a shortened BAe CV90 How true this is remains to be seen but if so, one only hopes that the design and industrial issues that scuppered the General Dynamics FRES Utility competition in a [...]
Recent Comments