BAE System’s first two 30 tonne Armoured Modular Vehicles has arrived in Australia and ready for its battle to win a place in the Land 400 down select.
Head of Land Systems Ian Smith said the lethal AMV35s headlined the company’s bid to build 225 new armoured vehicles for the Australian Army in the Land 400 contract worth up to $10 billion, that reported by www.adelaidenow.com.au.
They arrived in Adelaide after their platform was built by Patria in Finland and a BAE Systems turret was fitted in Sweden, and they were ready to be handed over to the army for testing and evaluation if BAE Systems moves to the next stage.
Last month, the Federal Government put the down select announcement on hold, so Mr Smith said in the meantime the two completed vehicles would be transported around the country and used to engage 65 Australian suppliers it had identified to be potentially involved in the project.
The AMV35 is an 8×8 combat reconnaissance armoured vehicle jointly developed by the Defence Companies Patria and BAE Systems.
“And we’re testing them out of transit from Sweden ensuring they are ready to go to participate in the 12 month test and evaluation process,” Mr Smith said.
The vehicles are 8m long, 3.5m high and just less than 3m wide with the BAE Systems turret fitted to meet army requirements. A third vehicle is in Sweden waiting for shipment if BAE Systems is successful in the down select for the Land 400 Phase Two project.
The AMV35 will be fitted with BAE Systems-Hägglunds’ E35 turret which is used on the tracked armoured vehicle CV90 family, which is called CV9035.
The BAE Systems E35 is a two-man turret armed with a 35mm dual-feed automatic cannon Bushmaster III which has a rate of fire 150 – 200 rds/min. The CV9035 has 2 belts of 35 rounds each loaded in the main gun, which is what should be expected from the AMV 35 CRV as well.
A total of 140 further rounds are stored inside the CV9035, a similar number of additional ammunition might be stored in the AMV 35 CRV.A 7.62mm coaxial machine is mounted to the left side of the main armament. The turret also carries six 76-mm grenade launchers, which are arranged in two clusters of three launchers mounted on each side of the turret.
