Made in the UK is worth considering if that capability still exists. Not sure that 30-year old weapon systems count. The gun laying kit would be obsolescent at best and would the ordnance or the ability to make it even exist?
The lack of ordnance manufacturing capability is a concern.

In terms of mechanical environment, if something is good for one wheeled vehicle it's probably good for all others, while the same is not true from wheeled to tracked. If you look at the various environmental test standards you can see that they have different tests for wheeled and tracks and tracke...

Whilst I like the idea of using a Nemo Turret, I do not like the idea of using such a platform as an "Assault Gun", of sorts. The Batalions mortars are too valuable to be used up close to an Enemy especially in urban terrain. I would rather a Platoon has access to a M4 Carl Gustav with th...

So an assault gun too. Not something the British Army has generally found much demand for, and largely covered by simple shoulder launched weapons in this day. That's what I was thinking. Better range, better ammunition depth, greater range and better mobility than shoulder launched munitions. The ...

Remember the KF-51 is just a demonstrator to show a way forward and also show off a possible "New" MBT as against upgrades to existing MBTs or new builds of that standard. I agree with that, but that wasn't what you were saying upthread. So yes it uses the same Power Pack as the Leopard 2...

Direct-fire HE for what purpose? Because you want that building/trenchline/bunker/wall to go away and you don't have the time to wait for CAS or guided missiles to spare nor do you want to cross the km or so of open ground to place a bomb by hand. Why would a turret be more survivable? They're inhe...

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/cv90-instead-of-ajax-kept-under-review/ Meanwhile..... https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/bae-deliver-new-cv90s-to-norway/ Old news masquerading as new to account for the media not knowing anything. If the MoD had been asked if they keep any other AFV under review the a...

Sticking a turreted mortar on BOXER sounds like an incredibly expensive and complicated option for a very limited capability (range, effect). 81 or 120 open-roof and manually fed still gets you rate of fire. If you can load a CR2 on the move, surely you could load a mortar too. With a turreted mort...

Also I didn't say there were no downside, in fact I think there are plenty of downside that we do not know yet. You said you couldn't see any downside. I presented some potential downsides. First of all, I never identified myself as an expert, You're writing an awful lot and making some very defini...

The turret on the KF51 looks huge. I’d guess that there’s a limit on what you can do converting a Leopard 2. I thought any future tank would follow the Russian concept with an unmanned turret and the crew inside an armoured shell inside the hull which would reduce weight while maintaining crew prot...

I think you're just being pedantic. Probably. Doesn't mean I'm wrong though. Also, no one is saying, "if it fits, it good to go!" Not exactly, but you're saying that you can see no downsides and Jim is saying it's illogical to do anything else. I think that there could well be downsides a...

Sticking this here as I see this as an alternative to the Challenger 3 if funding allowed. I doubt funding does allow, not least because some has already been committed to Challenger 3 and siphoning this off will likely mean you get neither. Perhaps we should put this on the shelf alongside the las...

Lord Jim wrote: ↑20 Jun 2022, 18:38 W wouldn't even have to use NEMO. BAe developed an effective, turreted 120mm Mortar back in the 90's, which is used on Saudi National Guard LAVs.

NEMO would be a heck of a lot easier than trying to unearth the drawings for the RO turreted mortar.

I couldn't agree more with Ittome on this. No surprises there. If the British Army is adamant that only a tracked platform can carry out the IFV and Recce roles then the Tracked Boxer platform is by far the most sensible choice. The savings in maintenance alone would make it worth it, but adding th...

I don’t see any downside of procuring tracked drive modules. You don't know if they're any good, you don't know if the existing modules are compatible with the different vibrations and you don't know how much they cost. Now only if MoD can force GDLS to stop working on Ajax the vehicle and work on ...

I understand where you are coming from, but we are dealing with a country and its proxies that will ignore any lesson and carry out a counter trial of captured soldiers who will be convicted on what are most likely made up charges. They'd have done it anyway. The key difference between a soldier im...

https://breakingdefense.com/2022/06/armys-autonomous-himars-moving-forward-will-be-at-project-convergence/ I will be shocked if the UK doesn't go HIMARS. It seems very British to have such an expeditionary capability. There's an interesting argument against it where the single pod is down to gettin...

ou can give anyone an M320 stand alone GL, as the US Marines and Army have done, replacing many of their older M203s. It is very light and is not restricted on the length of 40 Grenades it can use. This may be a better alternative to the L123A3 underslung grenade launcher currently issued. You real...

??? can you explain that last bit please. The sudden swerve to Boxer took funds that would otherwise have gone to Warrior and Challenger. Most of the Boxer buy has been for second or third line capabilities while the front line soldiers on, if you'll pardon the pun, in increasingly obsolescent vehi...

Of course the KF-51 demonstrator is fitted with the 130mm. What is to say it cannot take the 120mm L55 and be easily upgradeable to teh 130mm whenever ay operator decides to head in that direction. The biggest advantage of the KF-52 is that it is a NEW platform, not an upgrade to a long serving pla...

With all the AFV programme cock up in recent decades, the Army should be grabbing Boxer with both hands to undo much of the damage that has been done to the Army's ability to really be a viable combat force in any future Peer level conflict. The AFV programme cock up in recent decades is partly due...

This does feel like fallout from French posturing over the FCAS programme to me ?? There is every chance Germany saw the French behaviour over FCAS and have had second thoughts on the EuroTank project and decided to bring out this new tank for themselves. Guess next is to withdrawn from Eurotank .....

Tracked boxer has several things running in its favour - 1- the industrial benifits that will likely arise from the uk ordering a larger number of it and it’s wheeled counterpart 2- the commonality it will share with its wheeled counterpart 3- it ease for future development with its modular set up ...

I've honestly no idea why they would have moved from Cardington, Can't imagine there are any facilities in the UK that are as useful. The sheds there are used a lot for rehearsals and sets for films though. Possibly the money from the film industry for renting the sheds is what’s covering them to m...

Why not, Rheinmetall are still in the developmental stage for the Challenger 3 and the KF-51 is their new product and maybe we could get a good deal to be the launch customer? Surely it would be worth looking into at the very least. I'd hazard that the KF-51 is at the same place that CR3 was two, t...