ST Kinetics Proposed Terrex 3 for British Army's MIV
15 September 2016



The ST Kinetics Terrex 3 was displayed for the first time at DVD 2016. It is one of the likely runners for the British Army's MIV 8x8 requirement. (photo : Jane's)

Bidders line up for British Army's MIV 8x8 requirement

Contenders for the British Army's Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) requirement were out in force at Defence Vehicle Dynamics (DVD) 2016 at Millbrook Proving Ground on 7 and 8 September.

MIV will be an 8x8 procured off-the-shelf and fitted with a minimum number of UK sourced sub-systems such as remote weapon station, communications, battle management system and seating. According to David Russell, MIV Team Leader "MIV is now in the concept phase" and with "the team building up rapidly".

Potential contenders that showed up at DVD 2016 were the Finnish Patria Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV) and the latest AMV XP variant, the French Nexter Systems VBCI, Singapore Technologies Kinetics Terrex 3, the ARTEC Boxer, and from General Dynamics (GD) the Piranha 5 and General Dynamics Land Systems LAV. GD could also be in a position to offer the Stryker double-V-hull (SDVH), the LAV 6.0 or the LAV 700 depending on the UK requirements.

Finnish Patria Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV) and the latest AMV XP varian

French Nexter Systems VBCI

ARTEC Boxer


MIV is a 'Category A' programme and the acquisition strategy is now being firmed up.

While no numbers are available it is expected that between 300 and 350 MIV would be required with a potential initial operating capability of 2023. The vehicles will in part equip two battalions from within the new 'Strike Brigades' that the army is to form, these brigades will also include the Ajax tracked reconnaissance vehicle.

In addition to the baseline protected mobility (PM) variant of MIV (MIV-PM), other versions including a command and control (MIV-CC), ambulance (MIV-A), repair (MIV-REP) and recovery (MIV-REC) are also planned.

The baseline MIV is planned to be fitted with a Kongsberg Protector RWS armed with a 12.7 mm (.50 cal) machine gun although there is potential version with a heavier armament.

Indonesian Army Leopard 2RI MBT live firing test. Credit to owl_hoot.

Africa Aerospace and Defense airshow

L-15 ATF  (not after burn engine version), got rocket ammo 

Should remove Milnuts military website as already close shop.

Should also remove militaryphotos.net (mp.net). Close down also.

* 7.8 billion Euros, of which 15 % will be paid upfront.
* Meteor is included in the deal (which, IMHO, will seriously piss off China and most importantly Pakistan, since now India can snipe Pakistanese airborne targets deep inside their territory without ever crossing the border).
* The first planes will be delivered within 18 months of the signature, and apparently will be testbeds to integrate more weapons from India's arsenal, among which... Bhramos NG, a smaller version of the high-supersonic AShM. [Rufus: I would really like for us to get a few of them.]
* 50 % offsets, 30 % investment in Indian aerospace programs and 20 % in local manufacture of Rafale spare parts.
* The plane comes with its AESA radar and the full software code.

Edit:
Out of 7.8 billion €, 1.8 are for associated supplies, 1.7 are for India-specific enhancements, 0.353 for performance-based logistics and 0.710 for the weapon package. So it seems the planes themselves, plus the code, had a cost of 3.3 billion euros, meaning less than 100 M per plane.

Edit 2:
28 of the planes will be single-seaters, 8 double-seaters.

I dun encourage such A vs B discussion.
Mainly it was to prevent the thread going out of control.