US Army began fielding the Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 in 4QFY20. The Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 is an upgrade to the Abrams M1A2 SEPv2. The upgrades include:
The Army plans to begin fielding the Abrams M1A2 SEPv4 in 1QFY25. The Abrams M1A2 SEPv4 is an upgrade to the Abrams M1A2 SEPv3. The upgrades include:
The agreements total $8.5 million per vendor over a 12-month period of performance, with the first phase informing the development and integration of the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node, according to a Jan. 11 Army press release.
The Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) is intended to be a key piece in the sensor-to-shooter chain, connecting sensors from all domains to war fighters and systems in the field to enable beyond-line-of-sight targeting. The system will be capable of downlinking data from multiple domains, processing it with artificial intelligence to create targeting data, and then delivering those solutions directly to the Fires networks, which can then determine the best available shooter to respond with.
TITAN is the Army's mobile intelligence ground station architecture that will leverage space-based, aerial and terrestrial layer sensors to provide targetable data. The system will provide access to low earth orbit satellites, enable deep sensing and shorten the sensor-to-shooter loop.
Palantir and Raytheon will each receive an $8.5 million other transaction authority (OTA) agreements for 12 months of work in the project’s first phase. That early stage will include a series of design reviews, software demonstrations and soldier touchpoints as the vendors mature the TITAN software and work on system-level design. The Army will eventually move to a single vendor for complete system prototyping for phase 2. The next stage will cover refinement of prototype capabilities, and the fourth and final phase will prepare a prototype that is ready to integrate future sensors and technology advancements.
The Army plans to use TITAN in future Project Convergence demonstrations once delivered to the field in the fiscal year 2023 to FY-24 timeframe. During the first Project Convergence demonstration last September, the service used a TITAN surrogate to process data from a Gray Eagle drone. During that event, the Army was able to take overhead tactical satellite imagery and downlink it to a TITAN surrogate located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. The TITAN surrogate then used the Prometheus artificial intelligence program to create targeting solutions from that data. Next, those solutions were transported to the main demonstration area at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, where another AI program determined the best shooter to receive that targeting solution.
Northrop Grumman has been tapped to build two TITAN prototypes. Those are expected to be delivered in 2022.
Patria Nemo is capable of both direct and indirect fire. One of the features makes Patria Nemo mortar system particularly advanced is its fire-on-the-move capability. Patria has originally developed the fire-on-the-move capability for Patria Nemo Navy version several years ago, but due to tightened customer expectations and the prospects of the battlefield, the development was taken a step further. To date, Patria has finalized the qualification of the fire-on-the-move capability on land-based systems in both direct and indirect fire missions.
Patria Nemo enables the full potential of modern mortar system with its usability on land and at sea, operation on the move, and high level of protection and firepower. Patria Nemo is a real game changer on the battlefield.
Although mortars are simple and effective weapons for indirect fire, they are vulnerable on the modern battlefield.
Patria’s response to this challenge is Patria Nemo mortar system, which takes mobility, protection and firepower to the next level both on land and at sea.
Thanks to product development, the vehicle-mounted mortar can also be accurately fired on the move. No other manufacturer can boast a similar feature.
“Speed is its greatest advantage. The vehicle does not have to stop in order to fire, as all functions can be performed on the move. This makes it possible to open fire almost immediately after the command is given,” says Kari Reunamäki, Vice President, Weapon Systems from Patria’s Land business unit.
A vehicle in constant motion also makes Patria Nemo a more difficult target.
Works both on land and at sea
Patria Nemo is a 120 mm turreted mortar system mounted on a vehicle chassis. Armour protects the crew from ballistic threats, firing residues and combat gases.
The light and compact turret can be installed on a light, tracked chassis or wheeled armoured vehicles in the 6x6 and 8x8 class. The mortar turret is also suitable for naval use on, for example, fast patrol boats and coastal vessels.
“Patria Nemo has a modular design, which makes it extremely flexible and also attractive with regard to future system updates,” says Reunamäki.
Mobile firinge requires top expertise
According to Reunamäki, mobile firinge requires the turret to have an effective stabilisation system which compensates the motions of the turret caused by a moving vehicle.
Accurate fire also requires an advanced calculation system to determine continuously changing firinge values.
“Nemo calculation system is based on Patria’s own software expertise, which is the best in its field.”
Patria Nemo’s barrel is about one metre longer than traditional mortar tubes. This ensures a higher muzzle velocity of the mortar round, thus a longer range of up to ten kilometres.
Nemo is also able to fire Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact (MRSI) missions. Using MRSI, a maximum of six mortars can be fired on different trajectories so that they all hit the target at the same time.
“This maximizes the impact on the target,” says Reunamäki.
In addition to indirect fire, Nemo also has a direct-fire capability with the aid of its own day/thermal cameras and laser range finder. This capability can be used for close-range fire support, in urban warfare, and to defend the mortar carrier up to a distance of one kilometre.
Patria Nemo
- A 120 mm turreted mortar system whose mobility, protection and accuracy meet all the requirements of modern warfare and crisis management.
- Can be installed on a light, tracked chassis, on wheeled armoured vehicles in the 6x6 and 8x8 class, or on boats/ships.
- Rapid response, as the mortars can also be fired from a moving vehicle.
Drone footage of the new Redback IFV from Hanwha taken in early January 2021. The Redback is competing for the Australian Army's Land 400 Phase 3 IFV program.
Hanwha Redback IFV will be tested and compared with the German Lynx KF41 IFV. So, within a year we will find out who will win.
Detailed about Land 400 Phase 3:
This year, the Army will fire live anti-tank warheads at two rival Active Protection Systems to assess how best to protect lightweight armored vehicles like its 8×8 Stryker. The contenders in this “live fire characterization activity” – it isn’t officially a test – will be the German Rheinmetall Active Defense System (ADS) and the Israeli Rafael Trophy Vehicle Protection System (VPS). Not participating, our sources tell us, is the American Artis Iron Curtain, which was the Army’s original pick to protect the Stryker but was subsequently rejected after Army testers found it wanting.
Now, the Rheinmetall ADS and the Rafael Trophy VPS won’t be installed on actual Stryker vehicles. Instead, they’ll be set up on specially designed armored targets. That will allow the Army to measure precisely what damage, if any, gets through the active protection systems from different kinds of attacks.
“The Army intends to conduct live fire characterization activities with the two hard-kill active protection systems on platform agnostic test rigs,” said Ashley John, spokesperson for the Program Executive Officer – Ground Combat Systems (PEO-GCS).
A “hard kill” system, like ADS and VPS, is one that physically shoots down incoming anti-tank missiles and rockets. “Soft kill” decoys and jamming, by contrast, just make the enemy miss. Hard-kill has worked well on heavy tanks. Israel, Russia and the US all use it. But, as the Army has painfully discovered, it’s much harder to get it to work on lighter vehicles – which need protection the most. For the Stryker in particular, while the reliable, affordable vehicle has become an Army workhorse around the world — with variants carrying everything from infantry to anti-aircraft missiles, 30mm cannon, jammers, and even lasers — the service has struggled for years to make it more survivable in high-intensity combat.
What’s the hold-up? Historically, hard-kill Active Protection Systems are heavy and bulky; they need a lot of electrical power to run radars and targeting computers; and when they intercept incoming warheads, they may cause them to prematurely detonate or burst into shrapnel – “residual penetration” that a heavily armored tank can shrug off, but which a Stryker or other lightly armored vehicle cannot.
The Germans and Israelis have taken different approaches to solving this problem. Rheinmetall’s ADS uses a large number of small explosive charges distributed around the vehicle, computer-controlled to detonate at the precise millisecond to cut apart incoming warheads just before they detonate. Rafael’s Trophy uses a compact missile launcher, which lobs mini-missiles at incoming anti-tank missiles and rockets to intercept them further out. There’s a big debate over which of the two approaches is safer, both for the vehicle being protected and for foot troops or nearby civilians.
For continue the reading follow the link - Army Tries (Again) To Protect Stryker: Rafael or Rheinmetall?
The latest iteration of Merkava is called Mark 4 Model 400, which has a newer C2 (Command and Control) system and enhanced TROPHY (note the the added optical sensor over the radar).
