Army-News Einstellungen

[xena]

Cockerill hat aus ihrer 90mm Hochdruckkanone Mk8 eine 105mm Kanone für den Einsatz in leichten Fahrzeugen entwickelt. Zusammen mit ihrem neuen Turm CT-CV wurde das System auf der Eurosatory 2004 vorgestellt. Seitdem wurde das System auf einem Truppenübungsplatz in GB getestet. Dafür ist es auf einem Piranha III H montiert. Der Turm beherbergt Kommandant (links der Kanone) und Richtschütze (rechts der Kanone). Beide verfügen über ein Zielperiskop mit Nachtkanal (WBG) und LEM, der vom Kommandanten ist ein Panoramapersikop (also drehbar). Beide verfügen über ein LCD-Display.

Die Kanone verfügt über einen Autolader. Das Magazin am Heck des Turmes kann schnell ausgetauscht werden und fasst 16 Schuß. Dieser kann auch händisch von innen oder außen nachgeladen werden. Die APFSDS-Granate wurde speziell für diese Kanone entwickelt, kann aber auch auf anderen L7 Kanonen verwendet werden. Sie hat eine Vo von 1.620 m/s und einen Durchschlag von 560mm bei 0°. Der Penetrator hat ein l:d Verhältnis von 29:1. Die Leistung entspricht der ersten Generation von 120mm-Geschoßen.

Der Turm wiegt 4t ohne und 5t mit Zusatzpanzerung. Das System entspricht dem Technology Readiness Level 7, ist somit also Serienfertig.  (IDR 1/05)

Infos vom Hersteller

[Panzermann]

$2.6 Bn in Last-Minute Cuts to US Army's Heavy Forces Biting Deep

InsideDefense.com describes the ripple effect spreading outward from eleventh hour cuts to the Army's portion of the FY 2006 supplemental spending request, which stripped more than $2.6 billion for key improvements to Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, and other armored vehicle programs. It notes that these cuts will have significant effects, depriving the Army of key urban survival kits for its tanks, slowing modernization of the fleet and of a number of units, and driving up the price paid in the end while seriously disrupting production lines in the short term.

These effects also highlight some of the points that Straus Military Reform Project head Winslow Wheeler made about the budgetary process in a recent DID feature. Here's what's going on, why it matters, and how it ties back to both Wheeler's points and the US Army's Future Combat Systems plans....

According to Inside Defense, cuts included $588 million to produce 120 M1A2 SEP tanks for two enhanced brigade combat teams; $504 million for 210 refurbished M1A1 AIM tanks for three brigade combat teams in the National Guard; and $155 million for the Tank Urban Survivability Kit that was to be purchased this year and fielded to units in Iraq next year.

The Bradley M2A3 Infantry Fighting Vehicle program also took a $1 billion hit in the cuts, and programs re: the Army's M88A2 Hercules tank recovery/tow vehicle and M113 Armored Personnel Carriers were cut to the tune of about $400 million.

This cut would delay fielding modernized tanks to both the active component and National Guard and push off the TUSK improvements specifically slated for Iraqi urban operations. The Bradley funding removal will delay fielding the most advanced M2A3 versions of the armored personnel carriers to three heavy brigade combat teams in the 1st Armed Division that are being transformed into modular units, and to \"a key experimental Army unit.\" The other armored vehicle cuts, meanwhile, will affect units at Fort Bills and 3 National Guard BCTs.

In addition, some reports estimate that these cuts may lead to an eight-month production break in the Abrams tank industrial base and cause severe disruptions in the Bradley line, driving up costs for the armored personnel carriers by as much as 50%.
...

Quelle: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006....hp#more

Army Slashes Abrams, Bradley Funding

Eleventh hour cuts to the Army's portion of the fiscal year 2006 supplemental spending request stripped billions of dollars for key improvements to Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, setting back service plans to modernize the force and threatening to break assembly lines that upgrade these front-line combat systems, according to Pentagon documents and industry officials.

Last-minute efforts by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to trim the Pentagon's supplemental request down to $65.3 billion in mid-February forced the Army to slash more than $2 billion from its combat tracked vehicle lines, according to Pentagon officials.

Army officials are now looking to the next �bridge supplemental� spending request -- which could come as soon as the fall -- to restore those funds, according to Pentagon documents.

But that may be too late to avoid an eight-month production break in the Abrams tank industrial base and cause severe disruptions in the Bradley line, driving up costs for the armored personnel carriers by as much as 50 percent, according to Pentagon documents and industry officials.

More than $1.2 billion was wrung from the Abrams tank line last week in the budget maneuver, sending shock waves through the tank industrial base and service modernization plans. This cut would delay fielding modernized tanks to both the active component and National Guard and push off engine improvements necessary for Iraqi urban operations, according to Pentagon documents.

The Army is looking to streamline by 2013 its fleet of Abrams tanks down to two types: the M1A2 System Enhancement Program (SEP) for the active force and the M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) program for the National Guard.

That schedule may be reconsidered, industry officials said, in the wake of the recent cuts, which include: $588 million to produce 120 M1A2 SEP tanks for two enhanced brigade combat teams; $504 million for 210 M1A1AIM tanks for three brigade combat teams in the National Guard; and $155 million for the Tank Urban Survivability Kit that was to be purchased this year and fielded to units in Iraq next year.

The Bradley M2A3 program took a $1 billion hit, which will delay fielding the most advanced versions of the armored personnel carriers to three heavy brigade combat teams in the 1st Armed Division that are being transformed into modular units. The A3 variant of the Bradley has increased protection and is more survivable than older versions of the vehicle.

A key experimental Army unit that was slated to receive the A3 Bradleys will not receive them, according to Pentagon documents.

Without funds sought in the supplemental, Army effective Brady production plans could be derailed and upend the services' procurement strategy, driving up the unit cost of each vehicle by as much as 50 percent, according to Pentagon documents that detail the impact of the cuts.

Other combat tracked vehicle programs were also cut.

The M88A2 Hercules, designed to tow a disabled Abrams tank and other heavy tracked vehicles, had $331 million cut from the supplemental that were intended to completely outfit two heavy brigade combat teams. The cut will delay fielding of these vehicles by as many as three years, Pentagon documents state.

The M113 Family of Vehicles funding line also was cut by $90 million, which will affect improvements slated for 172 of the vehicles, including upgrades to the A3 variant of the M1068, M1064, M113 and M577, according to the Pentagon documents. A delay for these upgrade efforts will slow down by as many as two years transformation efforts of two active duty brigade combat teams at Fort Bliss and three National Guard brigade combat teams. The industrial base assembly line that support these upgrades will run out of work in fiscal year 2007.

Quelle: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,89479,00.html