Spain is going forward with Piranha V as their new 8x8 wheeled combat vehicle: http://www.janes.com/article/54819/spain-selects-piranha-5-as-new-8x8 The fact that they're being made by Santa Barbara Sistemas was a big factor in the decision. The only other competitor offering to build in Spain was I...

The AN/PVS-21 that was used by UKSF does allow you to project display information from a SVGA/VGA or NTSC/PAL video source, on to the eyepieces as a HUD overlay. But the actual information displayed is processed by external devices rather than being an inbuilt feature of the NVG - the PVS-21 HUD fea...

Soldier Systems published an in-depth look at Virtus' body armour and load carriage:

http://soldiersystems.net/2015/09/22/so ... nd-virtus/

Also on Source's site:

http://blog.sourcetacticalgear.com/virt ... tish-army/

VBCI with the original turret is a manned one. But it's a piddly little 1-man turret with a 25mm gun. The turret being demonstrated on the VBCI-2 is a 2 person turret so the turret ring needs to be ~2x the diameter to seat an additional man inside. Since for a circular turret ring, area = πr², doub...

What surprises me though, if VBCI can carry 9 troops. VBCI MkII can only carry 6, allegedly. Probably just this IFV version: Bigger turret ring = less space for dismounts. An APC built on the same hull with an RWS in place of the turret (which is what the UK will be buying) probably has about the s...

The new Stryker they have on the stand next to Ajax is ugly as sin.

I assume that like Nexter are proposing the latest VBCI variant; an offering from Patria would be the AMV XP hull they have on display, and ST Kinetics will off the Terrex 2 they unveiled at DSEI.

I'm guessing the main reason Switzerland is so high is because it's where CERN is.

Barrels get replaced a lot and don't last the life of the gun (Rarden's barrel is replaced after something like 3,500-4,000 rounds). So the testbed's CTC barrels getting shot-out isn't an issue - we'll always be buying more. The condition of the breach and ammunition transfer+handling system after t...

MBDA and the Army getting serious about a Brimstone variant for Apache: Future Attack Helicopter Weapon capability [DSEi15D2] MBDA UK officials declined to comment specifically on the intended requirement for the missile, but a briefing board on its stand highlighted that the weapon is being develop...

Jane's is saying 285 with the new turret, so that's 15 more than I had estimated from the number of CT cannons purchased: Long-life Warrior http://i.imgur.com/TUNsEei.jpg Lockheed Martin UK (Stand S8-210) is showing the latest version of its demonstrator vehicle from the Warrior Capability Sustainme...

Maybe it's just me, but "Ajax" works perfectly well as a singular or plural to me: "Three Ajax over there"

Then again I'm familiar with using the word "pax" to mean person, people or persons.

The 2025 helmet looks like something from Spaceballs

SoldierSystems has some more pics of Virtus kit at DSEI:



http://soldiersystems.net/2015/09/16/ds ... us-helmet/

What about the 400 that aren't part of the program? There are only 565 in the "affordable fleet" according to the NAO report a couple of years ago: The current affordable fleet is 565 vehicles including 445 currently planned to be upgraded to Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme which...

Well the UK has ordered 515 40mm Cased Telescopic Cannons. 245 of those are earmarked for AJAX, so that that leaves 270 to be used for Warrior or for spares. 380 Warriors are being upgraded under WCSP but that number includes things like fitting the new electronic architecture and modular armour pac...

Couple of photos of the WCSP on show at DSEI: http://i.imgur.com/RBnYXtE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/414lLxp.jpg Looks like some work has gone in to the hull as well (APU area on the front right of the vehicle) though the Desert Warrior and the hull that BAE used to demonstrate ABSV and their recent mort...

Looks familiar eh? Apparently been in development for 18 months and production begins this year... DSEI 2015: Rafael unveils SPARC remote-controlled, trailer-mounted Spike NLOS launcher http://i.imgur.com/Y62Wmpi.jpg In development for the past 18 months, but revealed for the first time at DSEI in L...

It's Barracuda. General Dynamics dressed the Foxhound/Ocelot variants they were showing off at DVD and DSEI last year in the same stuff. http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/archive/sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/12/8/0c29447f-7eb9-44c8-b858-3fda52767b08.F...

SKB wrote:Are we pronouncing Ajax the proper Dutch way or not? (eye-yux) ?

Woman in the Forces TV video pronounces it the way I always heard yanks pronounce it: "A"-jax.

I've always pronounced it eye-yas, since I was told the Greek spelling for it (Αἴας) is closer to Aias in english.

The missing armour blocks in front of the road wheels will more than likely be because the armour package is modular; it always has been designed to be modular. Warrior had blocks of armour down there when it was fitted with ERA and was mostly road-going in Iraq, but the TES(H) version for Afghanist...

May as well jump ship if this is the cost of renegotiation:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ation.html

AW159 Wildcat at AgustaWestland’s Operational Flight Training Centre, ahead of their delivery to the Republic of Korea Navy



More photos on Mark Stevens' flickr

shark bait wrote:I swear I've seen that it can, a quick Google put the vehicle at 15 tonnes, over the Chinook's 10 tonne capacity.

The ones used for British service in Afghanistan with improved armour etc. are closer to 19 tons

Speaking of the electronics in the roof running hot: http://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/RC135-incident.jpg http://theaviationist.com/2015/08/26/rc-135-take-off-aborted-offutt/ (yeah, I know it's probably not directly related to what we were discussing here w/r/t the white paint but...

Think of it as retro, and that the yanks copied the paint scheme from us anyway http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee168/fredM_photos/BAe%20Nimrods/XV228aABD9-79.jpg~original I see to remember RC-135s were silver up until the 1980s The Nimrod R.1 definitely had a white roof in the ELINT/SIGINT role ...

So what do you do if you need to mount both the protective visor and NODs? Realistically, I don't think the eye relief on any NV is good enough that you could mount them in front of the visor anyway. Even the ANVIS ones that pilots use with with long eye relief to look at instruments in their perip...