LONDON — General Dynamics' light armored vehicle (LAV) has taken to the UK’s highways in a bid to prove its ability to meet an upcoming British Army requirement for a mechanized infantry vehicle (MIV).
A 650-mile journey in under 24 hours is the target for the eight-wheel-drive 8x8 LAV demonstrator after it set out from Plymouth in the southwest tip of England heading for Inverness in the deep north of Scotland.
The vehicle is traveling some of Britain's busiest motorways as it heads north on a publicity stunt aimed at demonstrating the mobility and reliability of the vehicle to the British.
The British Army is expected to get a formal competition for the MIV requirement underway soon and has already started briefing industry on its intentions.
The last time the British tried to purchase an 8x8 wheeled vehicle, the program, part of the Future Rapid Effects System, fell apart in 2008 after the MoD and General Dynamics failed to agree to contract terms after the company's Piranha 5 had been nominated as the preferred vehicle.
Nexter, Patria, Lockheed Martin, Iveco and ST Kinetics and are among other possible contenders for the new requirement.
Defence Procurement Minister Philip Dunne declined to discuss a possible timeline for the program when asked at the recent Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) show in London, but he did confirm that acquiring the vehicle was a priority.
Senior British military officials have already visited the US Army’s Fort Hood, Texas, base to examine take a look at the Stryker version of the LAV, while a contingent of Scots Guards were attached to a Stryker unit during an exercise earlier this year.
One of the Royal Air Force's new A400M tactical transports was also in the US last month, in part to check out the aircraft's ability to carry the Stryker.
The LAV demonstrator heading for northern Scotland was part of General Dynamics' DSEI exhibit, sharing the main billing on the company's stand with the first turreted prototype of the tracked reconnaissance vehicle, to be known in British service as the Ajax.
The British Army ordered 589 vehicles in September 2014 in a £3.5 billion (US $5.4 billion) production deal with General Dynamics. Some 245 of those will be the turreted version.
The demonstrator includes technologies already fielded on US and Canadian fielded vehicles, and also incorporates the Kongsberg remote weapon station capable of carrying a 12.7mm machine gun and a Javelin anti-tank missile.
The British have already evaluated Nexter’s véhicule blindé de combat d’infanterie (VBCI) contender after the vehicle was delivered on an A400M to the RAF’s Brize Norton base during the Anglo-French summit of January 2014. The vehicle underwent several months of testing, and British troops have been trained to use in the use of the vehicle during visits to France last year.
Nexter unveiled an upgraded version of the VBCI at DSEI last month.
Email: achuter@defensenews.com
Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.
