First showing for Egyptian vehicles

First showing for Egyptian vehicles

BY CHRISTOPHER F FOSS

International Marathon United Technology Group is presenting its latest ST-500 and ST-100 4x4 armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) at IDEX for the first time and both are shown on the Arab Organisation for Industralisation Stand 09-B20.

Production of these is undertaken at the Egyptian Tank Plant (ETP), which has extensive experience in the manufacture of AFVs, including the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank and the M88A2 armoured recovery vehicle.

The smaller ST-500 Light Tactical Vehicle (LTV, pictured) has a crew of two consisting of commander and driver, plus three dismounts. It has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 10.2 tonnes, of which 2.5 tonnes is payload comprising crew, weapons, ammunition and additional armour.

The larger ST-100 is being described as a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) type vehicle and has a GVW of 18 tonnes, of which 3.5 tonnes is the payload, which includes the weapon system, ammunition, onboard equipment and the armour package. In addition to the driver and commander, the ST-100 has eight dismounts.

Both AFVs have an all-welded steel hull, with the lower part being the traditional V-shape to provide a higher level of protection against mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The protected powerpack at the front consists of a diesel engine coupled to an automatic transmission and a transfer case.

There is an increasing trend in the region towards local production of wheeled AFVs rather than relying on imported vehicles. This not only helps with technology transfer but also boosts local employment, but the manufacturer can potentially offer these on the export market and generate foreign exchange. Key subsystems such as the engine, transmission, driveline and suspension would continue to be imported, as it does not make economic sense to undertake local production of these items.

Vulcano is qualified

Leonardo’s defence systems facility at La Spezia in Italy has now completed development, industrialisation and qualification of the Vulcano 155mm Ballistic Extended Range (BER) artillery projectile. It has already been type classified by the Italian Army, which has accepted 170 units for evaluation, and is now ready for production as soon as orders are placed.

The trials were carried out in Italy at Nettuno and Salto di Quirra proving grounds and at the Alkantpan testing range in South Africa, using various artillery systems including the PzH 2000 155mm/52 calibre, 155mm/39 calibre FH-70, 155mm/45 calibre G5, 155mm/39 calibre M109L,155mm/52 calibre Artillery Gun Module, SGS 155mm/52 calibre, plus other 155mm barrels installed on a static gun mount. Vulcano features a sub-calibre fin-stabilised airframe, which is loaded with Insensitive Munition (IM) compliant high-explosive (HE), with patented tungsten rings pre-fabricated warheads. The projectile is fitted with a nose-mounted multi-function fuze, which can be set for altitude, impact/delayed impact, time or self-destruct functions.

This sub-calibre fin-stabilised airframe has sabots, which fall away after firing and the total mass of the fin-stabilised BER in flight is being quoted as 26kg. The projectile shares the same architecture as that used in the Leonardo 127mm (5in) naval projectile, which is already in production for the Italian Navy.

Vulcano can be used with standard modular charge systems (MCSs) and, when fired from a 155mm/52 calibre ordnance, four MCSs plus an additional charge integrated into the Vulcano projectile, has a maximum range of 50km with BER and 70km with the Guided Long Range (GLR) version. The latter features an autonomous Inertial Measurement Unit/Global Positioning System (IMU/GPS) guidance system and is also IM-compliant and fitted with a multi-function fuze. A semi-active laser (SAL) guidance system is available for Vulcano, which could potentially be used to engage moving targets with a circular error of probability (CEP) of 5m.

Vulcano can be viewed at the Leonardo Stand 06-B07 in the Italian Pavilion.