This is many ways is an ongoing topic about a "
controversial" topic however, this article clears up some of the
ambiguity on what's really going on. It's a story of two countries, programs and paths taken. Also with a surprising revelation of who's getting the "
Brass Ring" first for an
FOC System.
I am speaking of
UK & FRANCE/
AJAX & SCORPIAN and the
CT-40.
To save time I'm simply going to quote from the story...
Under Heading:
CT40 Cannon: proven system or cause of delays?
"In
recent evidence, given to the
Defence Select Committee, General Dynamics Land Systems – UK and Lockheed Martin UK
both laid
some blame for delays to
their programmes at the door of the
CT40 cannon."
"In
France, Nexter’s
Jaguar, part of the country’s
Scorpion land vehicles programme, uses the
same weapon as
AJAX and
Warrior CSP. Jaguar was contracted in 2014 and is
due to enter service at the end of this year."
(That is the surprise but "
due" isn't the same "
will". It just bears closer watching.)
"So, why have
UK vehicles faced delays while
France has progressed at speed?"
Under Heading:
Same cannon, different subsystems
"The adoption of the full system is part of the reason that
Nexter has had success with
Jaguar, while the
UK has faced delays."
"In the development of its turret for
Warrior CSP, Lockheed Martin did not take all the components from CTA International, instead
choosing to develop its own ammunition handling system that
feeds from the side rather than the
bottom of the weapon."
"Nexter added that as a
direct result of these trials (
2006 & 2008-Mine), the company
chose to adopt the entire CT40 system, including all the components listed above. The French company said that
Jaguar benefited from the trials by leveraging the risk reduction achieved by the 2006 and 2008 trials."
"In the
development of its turret, Lockheed Martin told Army Technology that in order to ‘[achieve] required fire control system performance and safety’ the
company chose to develop its own ‘integrated systems’ from UK suppliers. The company added that this allowed them to
develop a modular system used on both
AJAX and
Warrior CSP."
At an
oral evidence session of the UK Parliament’s Defence Select Committee, Francis Tusa
Editor of Defence Analysis told MPs: “The problems we have had, in the UK, with the 40 millimetre cased telescoped ammo
have not been replicated in France, where they have
taken the system, all of it, as designed. It is now in
full-scale production.
“They now have a turret that would fit if we wanted to, just for the
sake of argument (
Which the UK is getting.-Mine), put it on to a
Boxer. It works absolutely fine. Yes, there have been problems along the way, without a shadow of a doubt,
but it works. That is because they (
France-Mine) had a
much more coordinated approach to the development, design and then how they were going to put it into production.”
Under Heading:
Problems along the way in the UK
To be sure as noted by Francis Tusa Editor of Defence Analysis above there were some minor technical issues with the CT-40, however they were all addressed by
2014. Again the French are well ahead of the UK in the total system as that's how they moved ahead, by keeping it all together, weapon and subsystems.
The first few paras deal with the "
blame game" from the UK Manufactures Group on the CT-40, Contract issues and miscommunications,
I leave these for the reader to discern.
Moving on...
In its evidence, General Dynamics also said that a ‘
stable and defined build standard’ was
not realised until the
AJAX contract was recast in 2019.
Countering both companies’ evidence, the
MOD told Army Technology: “Qualification of the weapon has continued in parallel with the development of the platforms. Whilst this did require some change and resultant schedule impact, the
slippage due to CT40 was not a significant contributor to the delays in the development of the platforms themselves.
“The
CT40 design was fixed for
cannon production in March 2015 and the interface has
not changed; in 2015 CT40 was sufficiently characterised for integration.”
"A
source also told Army Technology that
by 2019 cannon qualifications were done and added that
during the development process Lockheed Martin made little effort to work with CTA International, instead
preferring to work with the MOD on issues with the cannon as it is supplied as government furnished equipment (GFE)."
"Army Technology understands that the
MOD mandated the cannon as AJAX and Warrior CSP’s main armament but
did not mandate the weapons subsystems, hence Lockheed’s decision to develop its own."
Under Heading:
What’s next for Warrior, AJAX and Jaguar?
"As it stands,
all three (Really 4 I have found a couple of articles suggesting the German BOXER T40 has been fully tested, as like the French, they bought the complete system.-Mine) vehicles featuring the CT40 cannon have largely ironed out development issues and are making good progress.
Lockheed Martin expects a production contract to be signed for
Warrior CSP next year, General Dynamics has finished production of
60 AJAX (12 are in OPEVAL with an active unit.-Mine vehicles, and
Jaguar is
slated for deliveries late this year."
"
Nexter for its part is
offering the
MOD a Boxer MIV module fitted with the turret used on its Jaguar vehicle. The system dubbed
Boxer T40 would fill a requirement for direct fire capability for the
British Army’s planned STRIKE Brigades (This could kill WARRIOR CSP.-Mine).
"A question mark has been placed over the
Warrior CSP programme, with one source telling Army Technology that the vehicle is in the
most doubt as the
UK looks to reassess its forces in an upcoming
integrated review of defence security and foreign policy. Earlier this year it was reported by the
Times that the
UK was assessing options to axe its entire fleet of Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) and IFVs."
And I'm leaving it there that Defense Review is putting
CHALLENGER 2 (And upgrade.),
AJAX and finally
WARRIOR CSP in doubt.
So
CHALLENGER 2is in service.
AJAX is in
OPEVAL,
WARRIOR CSP still in finishing touches of
development and
JAGUAR becoming operational by
mid+ - 2021 I'm thinking.
The "
wildcard" will be the
BOXER T40 which I feel could contribute to the end of both
AJAX and
WARRIOR CSP. The other
driver not mentioned is
ARIES which if I read it correctly, in one of my most recent refs, is about to start production and will have a
RECON version as well.
I also see another path for
AJAX in that MOD does buy the
60 units as noted above and ends the production run there.
We
definitely know one thing for sure though and that is
AJAX will need a new
START, if we allow for a
quick with no further issues during the
OPEVAL, then I recommend
JAN 2022 (Maybe, as I see a smaller path to it OCT 2021) to include an increase in
TI/GSR to
Min 45/Max50 as well.
I don't know what more I can add to this except from my folder of refs that covers segments or more of this
full article.
https://www.army-technology.com/feat...use-of-delays/
Regards,
Pat
Re: APC Development and related topics.
Threaded Mode