Posted by Bradley
Peniston | June 15th,
2010 | Combat
Vehicles
By ANDREW
CHUTER – Singapore’s ST Kinetics, headquartered
just below the Equator, is targeting countries on the Arctic Circle
for its Bronco all-terrain tracked vehicle. Potential markets
include Sweden, the home of rival BvS10 built by BAE Systems.
Bronco All Terrain Tracked Carrier (ST Engineering
photo)
The Singaporean executive said that while the Swedes were only
looking at what was on the market, ST Kinetics were open to
bidding, subject to the requirement.
The Bronco may have been built in the tropical heat of Singapore
but Choy reckons the vehicle’s all-terrain capabilities would be
well-suited for countries such as Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway
and Sweden, which will increasingly need to police the Arctic
region as the ice cap melts.
ST Kinetics emphasized its links with the Nordic region at
Eurosatory, announcing a sale of 40mm ammunition to the Finnish
Army for automatic grenade launchers. This is a repeat order from
the Finns, who have been customers since 2000.
Requirements in the Arctic rim for an all-terrain armored
vehicle would pitch the Bronco into a head-to-head fight with the
smaller-payload BvS10.
Upgraded versions of the vehicles have already clashed in the
U.K. and France over the last couple of years. ST Kinetics won with
the Warthog in Britain, but lost to the Viking II in France.
The Singaporeans’ suffered a series of problems with the Warthog
after it vehicle arrived in the U.K. for testing. The armor had to
be increased, requiring changes to the suspension and driveline to
compensate for the weight.
Choy said eight or nine hulls have been blown up to test the
revised protection requirements. The protection tests have now been
completed and final reliability testing is now being undertaken
ahead of expected deployment to Afghanistan later this year.
Choy said the upgrade has taken a lot of pain, effort and money
to achieve but the work was essential to reciprocate the trust the
British had put in ST Kinetics by giving them the order in the
first place.
ST Kinetics used Eurosatory to promote a new heavily armed
version of the all-terain machine known as the Bronco Fire Support
Vehicle.
The concept vehicle was fitted with a remote-control weapon
station on the front cabin sporting a 40mm grenade launcher and
7.62mm coaxial machine gun, while the rear cabin is armed with the
company’s 50 RCWS mounting the .50-cal. CIS 50 gun.
Choy said the company did engineering studies to prove the
concept, and is now looking to gauge global interest in a machine
that can provide considerable fire support virtually anywhere on
the battlefield.
He said one idea was decoupling the rear cabin to use it as a
fire support platform with its own electrical power.
