Yes, the ASCOD chassis is a proven chassis, upgraded in this incarnation.
The CV90 that BAE has based their offering on is a similar age.

The turret on each is a new design to house the CT40. Both have a new electronic architecture and both are new builds.

According to the times the ASCOD has been chosen... by the treasury ! ... even though the Army wanted the CV90! Seem ridiculous to waste the MOD money spent working with BAE on turret development, not to mention destroying the long term future for turret/AFV manufacture & export in the UK (GD are only to assemble the UK's vehicles locally, not develop export work).

I suspect GD are pricing a loss leader for the rest of the vehicle types and the treasury have bitten with their usual short termism.

The Telegraph are saying the same thing except they reckon the army is getting Ascot tanks :D

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...-industry.html

I like how some news sources are pitching this as "The death of the British tank industry" (primarily the Telegraph link). It seems to miss that either contractor would be providing a hull produced abroad and a native turret, with assembly done in the UK.

The demise of the UK AFV industry is due to a number of things, but at this point it is a done deal and choosing one contractor over another won't make much of a difference.

Doesnt the GD option use ABRO as its assembly location and I thought the CV90's would be built in Sweden and shipped over here for final assembly

Originally Posted by meridian

Doesnt the GD option use ABRO as its assembly location and I thought the CV90's would be built in Sweden and shipped over here for final assembly

But don't let that get in the way of a good rant.

Originally Posted by blandy

According to the times the ASCOD has been chosen... by the treasury ! ... even though the Army wanted the CV90! Seem ridiculous to waste the MOD money spent working with BAE on turret development, not to mention destroying the long term future for turret/AFV manufacture & export in the UK (GD are only to assemble the UK's vehicles locally, not develop export work).

I suspect GD are pricing a loss leader for the rest of the vehicle types and the treasury have bitten with their usual short termism.

Excellent 4th post...any more insightful comments before you return to the bunker you've come from?

S_R

yes - both build turrets in the uk and ship in a vehicle body for local assy. The problem is that BAEs design has been built and trialled with the cannon (at mod expense). BAE have committed to an export strategy. GDs/LMs turret is still very much still paper only without the same commitment to long term export. It still smells like the CV90 was the better vehicle (even ignoring industrial considerations) and the treasury are being penny wise, pound foolish... or are the GD related sites in key marginals?!

lets all be brutally honest here....whichever company won the bid there aren't enough of the specialist engineers left in the country for the 2 companies to keep full teams running.

If GD win then I expect a large number of the BAE team to be moving south...if BAE win the GD guys will head north....end result same level of AFV design/support capability in the country (still pitifully low numbers but they aren't paid well and the contracts are few and far between).

S_R

Originally Posted by blandy

yes - both build turrets in the uk and ship in a vehicle body for local assy. The problem is that BAEs design has been built and trialled with the cannon (at mod expense). BAE have committed to an export strategy. GDs/LMs turret is still very much still paper only without the same commitment to long term export. It still smells like the CV90 was the better vehicle (even ignoring industrial considerations) and the treasury are being penny wise, pound foolish... or are the GD related sites in key marginals?!

The BAE turret that was 'built and trialed' was for the Warrior program...as well as to prove the BAE cannon that had been approved for use on both. It just so happens that they used the benefits from that program to play with the FRES turret design (very similar but not the same)....I'd love to see the commercial agreement that let that happen.

To be honest BAEs commitments on Export and anything else are pretty 'open' to modification in the future. I think you'll find the BAE sites are more marginal than the GD ones.

S_R