AuBAE Systems Land Systems has confirmed that it will deliver 50 production Panther Command and Liaison Vehicles (CLVs) to the British Army by January 2007, in order to meet the army's required in-service date (ISD).The ISD requires BAE Systems to supply 50 fully supported Panther CLVs, with trained personnel in position, for one brigade in 3 Division.The UK Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) selected the Panther following tests involving five competing 4 x 4 vehicles submitted by three contractors, with the GBP140 million (USD245.7 million) production contract finally being awarded late in 2003. An order for 401 units was subsequently placed with integration of the vehicles to start in mid-2006.Of the 401 vehicles, 326 are Group 2, which are fitted with the Selex Enforcer 7.62 mm remote-controlled weapon station and surveillance and target acquisition (STA) with the remaining 75 fitted for but not with the SDW/STA. Production will average 13 vehicles a month with final deliveries in 2009.
27 March 2006

The latest main battle tank (MBT) to enter service with the PLA is the Type 98, which uses a chassis very similar to that of the Russian T-72 series. On this is mounted a new locally-developed two-person turret, armed with a 125 mm smoothbore gun fed by an automatic loader. The latter is mounted below the turret and first loads the projectile, and then the charge. The weapon system is based on Russian technology.The Type 98 is in service with the PLA in limited numbers and was followed by the Type 99. This is almost identical to the Type 98, except that the turret has an arrow-head design similar to that of the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Leopard 2A6.More recently it has been revealed that China is developing a new MBT, which is understood to be armed with a 152 mm gun fed by an automatic loader. The weapon would be coupled to an advanced day/thermal sighting system that will allow moving targets to be engaged with a high first-round hit probability while the vehicle is stationary or moving.At least one source has indicated that Russia has supplied some of the technology for the new Chinese MBT project, in order to earn valuable foreign currency to fund some of its own tank development programmes. This is understood to apply mainly to the main armament and the diesel power pack.
27 March 2006

A riot police armoured personnel carrier (APC) doses water to disperse stone-throwing protesters behind a barricade in a suburb in Istanbul March 23, 2006. Hundreds of protesters, including residents blocked a road and threw stones at police while they tried to stop municipality workers from demolishing their houses which were built illegally in Istanbul.
23 March 2006

Pakistan's cruise missile Babur, or Hatf VI, flies during a test flight March 21, 2006. Pakistan successfully tested a nuclear-capable cruise missile for the second time, the military said on Tuesday.
21 March 2006

Australian army vehicles prepare to set up camp in the northern Queensland town of Innisfail, 84 kilometers (52 miles) from Cairns, Tuesday, March 21, 2006. Cyclone Larry ripped roofs off buildings across Australia's northeastern coast packing winds up to 290 kph (180 mph), leaving an unknown number of people homeless but causing only a handful of minor injuries. Innisfail was hardest hit by the cyclone disrupting power, water and sewage in the region.
21 March 2006

An earlier DID article noted Britain and Sweden's SEK 4 billion contract for RB 57 NLAW, Next Generation Light Antitank Weapon (NLAW) rockets in 2002, and the Swedish Materiel Administration's SEK 500 million (GBP 36.3 million) order in 2005. As a follow-up to that order, Thales UK has just signed a GBP 10 million ($17.5 million at current conversion) export contract with Saab Bofors Dynamics for NLAW missile assembly. The final assembly will take place at Thales Air Defence in Belfast.The missiles will be assembled and tested in its high volume production line, using capabilities and expertise gained through similar missile programs such as the anti-air Starstreak and VT1, and the Hellfire anti-armor missile.
17 March 2006

Villagers walk past a Nepalese army armored vehicle at Khanikhola, Nepal, Tuesday, March 14, 2006. Hundreds of troops patrolled key highways across Nepal on Tuesday to deter a planned blockade by communist rebels aimed at cutting off major cities from the rest of the Himalayan kingdom.
14 March 2006

The Saudi armed forces are due in April to begin trialling the MBT 2000 Al Khalid main battle tank (MBT), manufactured by Pakistan's Heavy Industries Taxila. Islamabad is hoping that this will lead to the conclusion of the country's first large MBT export deal, Pakistani defence sources told JDW.Pakistani defence officials said that if the tests are successful, Saudi Arabia could buy up to 150 Al Khalids in a deal worth up to USD600 million. This would be the largest single export contract of its kind ever for Pakistan's emerging defence industry.The Al Khalid is of conventional layout, with the driver's compartment at the front, turret in the centre and the power pack at the rear. In many respects it appears to be almost identical to the Chinese Norinco Type 90-II MBT. The turret and hull are of all-welded steel armour construction and an additional layer of composite armour has been added over the frontal arc, to which explosive reactive armour can be added if required. Turret thickness at the front is estimated to be 600 mm with the glacis/nose estimated to be 450 to 470 mm.
13 March 2006

Residents walk past an armoured vehicle at the entrance of the Mangueira slum during an operation to search for weapons in Rio de Janeiro March 12, 2006. The army operation was in response to the theft of 11 weapons from a military base.
10 March 2006

A Iraqi soldiers aboard a tank patrol a street near a Sunni shrine in Baghdad March 10, 2006. Iraq 's president on Thursday delayed a first session of its new parliament by a week beyond a constitutional deadline and there was no sign of an end to deadlock that has stalled the formation of a unity government.
10 March 2006

The Bangladesh Army is to take delivery of 60 BTR-80 8 x 8 wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs) from Russia in March for use on UN missions.The cost of this acquisition is not known, but funding was obtained outside the defence budget due to the UN peacekeeping application. Dhaka currently has over 10,000 troops serving with the UN and recently authorised an increase up to 16,000, if required.The Bangladesh Army is thought to have about 70 BTR-80s currently on overseas deployment with the UN, included in a total inventory of 175 APCs. Also among the latter are wheeled BTR-70s and tracked Type 63s.
09 March 2006

Major General Robert Williams, Commanding General, US Army Armor Center in Fort Knox, KY, stands in front of a GPV Commander 6x6x6 vehicle while talking to reporters about the vehicle and equipment demonstration being conducted at the base, Sunday, MArch 5, 2006. Eleven vendors from across the globe brought armored vehicles and gun boxes to Fort Knox for a demonstration of state-of-the-art tactical and combat vehicle equipment systems which could potentially help protect and support Army troops in Iraq .
05 March 2006

A Canadian soldier stands beside the damaged armored vehicle LAV III Kodiak after the suicide bombing in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Friday, March 3, 2006. A suicide bomber hit a Canadian armored vehicle outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, wounding a soldier, while police in a neighboring province killed eight suspected Taliban militants in a gun battle, officials said.
03 March 2006

Before Saturday 04 March 2006 the Army Recognition paper magazine is available to all press shops, magazines shops, newspaper kiosk to all France. For the first time, you can find a military magazine full colour with more than 120 high quality pictures with a free CD with more than 350 pictures in high resolution with walkaround and details pictures for each vehicle. To the Issue 1, the Russian MBT T-90, the Russian armoured infantry marine fighting vehicle BMP-3F, the Russian howitzer 2S5, the Russian reconnaissance radar Zoopark-1, the Italian wheeled reconnaissance vehicle Centauro 105 and a complet photographs report about the Russian Expo Arms, one of the important defense exhibition to Russia. See sample of page and CD picture to the right side of this page. Visit this link to see more sample pictures and complet preview of paper magazine.
Distribute by MLP.
03 March 2006