Thursday, May 8, 2014

Military Machines International 06/2014

The British Army is now in yet another period of reorganisation although any consequent re-equipment is limited by budgetary problems. It faces two main problems - the first to withdraw from Afghanistan bringing back all the vehicles and equipment as the role dwindles to training and secondly the need to re-invent itself as a force of three "reaction" brigades, an air assault brigade and seven "adaptable" brigades. The idea is that the reaction brigades are ready to deploy anywhere in the world where British interests are threatened and at brigade strength could undertake three, six-month tours, giving the adaptable brigades time to train and equip to follow on with the tours after the first 18 months. Given the budgetary limitations (and the fact that the FRES project has not really run to anything like the original plan) the equipment programme could be typified by the words "make do and mend". For many of the fleets of vehicle the proposed force size means that they are oversize for the needs of the Army - this i ncludes Wolf (TUM/ TUL), Support Vehicle (SV) and Oshkosh Close Support Tanker (CST). Starting with armoured vehicles FRES is no longer an acronym used by MoD preferring to describe the project by the letters SV standing for "Scout Vehicle" and describing the family of vehicles being developed by General Dynamics from the Austro-Spanish ASCOD.

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