IAV 2024: British Army mulls procurement of interim SHORAD system
The British Army is considering the procurement of a new mobile short-range air defence (SHORAD) system to replace its Stormer-based self-propelled high-velocity missile (SP-HVM) system, Janes learnt at Defence iQ's International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference held in London from 22 to 25 January.
While Janes understands that a business case for the procurement has not yet been approved and that its primary justification would be to fill the gap left by the donation of Stormer systems to Ukraine, the material presented at the IAV conference implies that the new system could take over the mobile SHORAD role once the Stormer reaches its planned out-of-service date in 2026.
According to slides outlining a conceptual road map for the British Army's Land Mobility Programme, which aims to reduce the number of different types of armoured vehicle platforms in service, the Stormer is planned to eventually be replaced by a ground-based air defence (GBAD) mission system's carrier variant of the future Medium Protected Mobility vehicle family.
IAV 2024: British Army outlines procurement plans for Land Mobility Programme
Details of the British Army's Land Mobility Programme (LMP), including the number of vehicles required and procurement timelines, were revealed at Defence iQ's International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference held in London from 22 to 25 January.
The LMP aims to simplify the British Army's armoured vehicle fleet by reducing the number of types of protected patrol and light utility vehicles in service from more than 10 types to three.
To achieve this, the British Army will outline a case for procuring three new families of vehicles: a Medium Protected Mobility vehicle, a Light Protected Mobility vehicle, and a Light Utility Platform. Each of these families will be expected to be compliant with Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) standards to allow continual spiral development throughout their service life. In accordance with the Land Industrial Strategy, at least 60% of the workshare for its constituent procurements will be expected to go to UK industry.
According to the British Army, about 1,600 Medium Protected Mobility vehicles will be needed to replace the Mastiff, Ridgeback, and Wolfhound mine-protected patrol vehicles scheduled to go out of service in 2028, as well as the Bulldog tracked armoured personnel carrier scheduled to go out of service in 2030, and the Stormer self-propelled short-range air-defence system scheduled to go out of service in 2026.
UK plans to procure VAMTAC air-defence vehicles to replace Stormers donated to Ukraine
The United Kingdom plans to procure VAMTAC Rapid Ranger 4×4 air-defence vehicles to replace Stormer tracked self-propelled high-velocity missile (SP-HVM) systems donated to Ukraine, Janes learnt at the Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) Expo hosted by the British Army at Baker Barracks, Emsworth, southern UK, on 11 July. The procurement, which has to be approved by parliament, will replace the six Stormers donated to Ukraine in 2023 and an additional six VAMTAC air-defence vehicles will be procured for a total of 12.
Thales displayed a URO VAMTAC armed with HVMs and Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMMs) at GBAD Expo. A Thales representative told Janes at the exhibition that the system was ready for procurement and had already been procured by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia.
For more information on UK short-range air-defence procurement, please seeIAV 2024: British Army mulls procurement of interim SHORAD system .
Moog Debuts RIwP® on British Army Vehicle at DVD 2024
Moog will present its Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP) – a unique weapon system that allows users to add and change weapons and sensors when needed – in a UK-specific short-range air defence (SHORAD) configuration on a British Army vehicle at Defence Vehicle Demonstration (DVD) 2024.
RIwP will be shown mounted on a British Army Ridgback 4x4 protected mobility vehicle in the NP Aerospace offroad display area OR13. This debut configuration marks the first time RIwP has been displayed on a vehicle outside of the U.S.
The vehicle-mounted RIwP being shown is specifically configured for the British Army’s current SHORAD requirement within the Land GBAD Programme. The exhibit includes missile canisters for the in-service High Velocity Missile (HVM) and the Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM), as well as an advanced gunner’s sight. Additional lethality – and an example of RIwP’s versatility – is provided by a 30x113mm main gun and an M240 7.62mm machine gun, which can co-exist on the same turret as the missiles with no degradation in effector performance.
