Warrior Mk2

[ivan-o]

Scorpion  miniature models have done it again! This company is turning out some superb stuff for British armour modelling and at a decent price as well👌

 

https://www.scorpion-miniature-models.co.uk/product-page/smm3528-warrior-2-infantry-fighting-vehicle

Sadly now you have to find the kit for it to go on!

Ivan

 

 

 

[magman2]

The Warrior update is to be scrapped,

and the money is supposed to be going 

to the Ajax and Boxer Projects.

[ivan-o]

Well it will make a good ‘what if’ anyway 😀

[Kingsman]

3 hours ago, magman2 said:

The Warrior update is to be scrapped,

and the money is supposed to be going 

to the Ajax and Boxer Projects.

WR CSP or whatever they call the upgrade these days was supposed to have been in service a decade ago.  Changing the weapon choice from 30mm Mk44 to the 40mm CTAS had a lot to do with that, even though the turret has not evolved much from the MTIP demonstrator.  The small offset turret ring was always a problem.  There have also been problems with electronic integration between BAES, LM UK and GD UK and too much proprietary information unwilling to be shared.  The US control over access to much Bowman information will not have helped either.  And let's not forget that the vehicles themselves are over 30 years old.  New wine and all that......

 

But this heralds the end of mechanised infantry in the British Army.  Warrior is no longer viable, and really hasn't been for a while in a first world army.  Boxer is not an MICV and there are no current plans to acquire a turreted variant.  And it doesn't have the terrain accessibility to keep up with tracked armour off road,  Or the survivability to mix it in an armoured firefight.

 

Bearing in mind that Ajax is derived from the ASCOD platform, the MICV in current service with Austria and Spain, the most logical choice to sustain mech inf would be to expand the fielding of the Aries APC variant beyond the current laydown of recce/cavalry units.  However this is still lightly armed and a heavier weapon would certainly be desirable.  But a turreted MICV will be little different from the Ajax scout, perhaps with a lesser sensor fit and obvious internal changes.  An RWS circles back to the decade+ old requirement for the Scout and MICV to mount a common weapon.  France has come up with an unmanned mounting for the 40mm CTAS, which was always their preference.  The other choice would be to revert back to a 30mm weapon, but that is swimming against the flow of MICV development where we are seeing larger calibre weapons being developed and fielded. But now that we have left the EU we are at least free of fear of prosecution by the EU if we choose to extend or alter the Ajax deal by any significant amount without re-competing it.  The change value limit in the Regulations is still 50% but case law has taken that down to 5%.

 

[viper-30]

Never mind it will make a fabulous addition to the collection and should have it by Thursday...building the AKTIV snow cat at the moment.