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DRS At DVD
At the OUVS Industry Day in January, Mrs Annelies Look, Project Manager OUVS gave a Project Overview. A major part of the OUVS Requirement revolves around the fitting of complex C4I Systems into the vehicle to provide the user with 24/7 driving capability in all conditions and terrains.
Given the large amount of sophisticated electronic equipment including BOWMAN radios and IED detectors, the vehicle would be ESM optimised to prevent reduce interference. ECM fits would be GFE by the MoD, but the ability fit ECM is mandated.
Alternator and power requirements must accommodate 24/7 usage of a number of electronic systems – outline continuous power requirements have been set.
Julian Bryan of Millbrook and Alan Cooper of Dstl gave an overview to the Power and Mobility Requirements for OUVS. Millbrook would be the testing centre for all OUVS vehicles and would be made available to those manufacturers wishing to trial their offerings. Rob Ward of Millbrook outlined the Safety Case Requirements whilst Robin Warwick of Dstl gave a brief on Mobility Modelling and the Requirement for NATO Mobility Standards.
Power is not deemed to be an issue; there are a number of power generation devices currently available which are able to produce significantly more than the predicted power required for OUVS. However, the more power that can be supplied to the platform the better. It would be sensible to incorporate growth potential into the platform, as throughout the service lives of these vehicles, additional electronic equipment is likely to need to be installed. If the power is already available, then this will reduce costs in the future.
DRS is well placed to meet these requirements as it already has a suite of advanced C4I and RSTA systems which it has supplied to the U.S. and other armed forces. DRS has supplied computers for the U.S. FBCB2 and U.K. BOWMAN requirements and RSTA products, particularly the Driver’s Vision Enhancer (DVE) to the U.S. and U.K. Armed Forces.
Driver's Vision Enhancer (DVE)
DRS had its own live demonstration of the DVE demonstrating the equipment’s ability to operate in any conditions, particularly sand and dust 24/7. The Driver’s Viewer Enhancer Immersive SIL is a 3-dimesional “theatre” style demo of the capability of the 640X480 DVE system.
The DVD was also installed on the Hobson Industries Ranger Armoured Land Rover, where DRS was giving live demos. The size of the equipment makes it an ideal fir for light and medium vehicles.
DRS’s Driver’s Vision Enhancer (DVE) B-kit provides combat and
tactical-wheeled vehicle operators with unparalleled flexibility to conduct day/night operations or maneuver in severely degraded visual conditions caused by smoke, fog, dust or other battlefield obscurants.
The DVE B-kit provides situational awareness, vehicle tracking, support elements for the combat force, and gives an operator the ability to detect targets or ambushes.
The DVE B-kit System is comprised of two Line Replaceable Units (LRUs): the Sensor Module (SM) with the integral Uncooled Mini-Microbolometer module and the Display and Control Module (DCM). These LRUs are interchangeable in the non-captive A-kit adapter bracket which fits into the vision block of various combat vehicles or mounted externally on the vehicle to maximize the viewing area. These units fit into all standard vehicle A-kits and are adaptable to other customer furnished A-kits. DVE B-kits fit into A-kits of various tactical wheeled vehicles as well. DRS’s DVE B-kit is upgradeable (e.g., improved optics and focal plane arrays for increased resolution and field-of- view). This reduces the potential for technical obsolescence and allows inexpensive upgrades to maintain the equipment utility.
Features
• Day/night 24-hour operation capability
• Ability to see through dust, smoke and other battlefield obscurants
• Enhanced situational awareness, silent watch operation capability
• Upgradeable enhancements
• Adaptable to many vehicles including: Abrams AVLB, Bradley EFV, FMTV HEMTT, HETS HMMWV, LAV M88, M113 Stryker, Bulldog, CVR(T) and Mastiff.
Performance
Range (detection)
Standing man, dirty battlefield 190 m
Static vehicle, clear weather 1790 m
Field-of-view, nominal: 31.5° vertical x 42.2° horizontal
Field-of-regard, with A-kit
Combat vehicle: ± 50° azimuth and +35/-15° elevation
Tactical wheeled: ± 90° azimuth and +35/-60° elevation
The DRS BattleLab
The DRS BattleLab was first shown at DSEi last year At DVD the Battle Lab had the Bowman BCIP 5.3 Technology Insertion capability demonstrated)
DRS has been a major team member for the BOWMAN Platform BISA, supplying equipments and know-how to develop this advanced capability in Challenger 2 and other vehicles.
Other DRS products on display included: a 10KW Power Inverter on display from Sustainment Systems; a mast-mounted GS207 gimballed Thermal Imager slaved to a display in the Battle Lab; Thermal Weapon Sights (TWS) mounted on dummy weapons to display this capability. The TWS is in theatre in Iraq and Afghanistan in large numbers; the DRS iVIS-100 vehicle display and crewstation, a modular solution for video routing, switching, scaling, windowing and displays in vehicles and the DRS iVIS-200 video scaler and windower which can accept 4 video inputs and produce a composite windowed display accepting both high-res and PAL/NTSC inputs.
DSG
DVD was the setting for the new Defence Support Group (DSG) headed by Archie Hughes to demonstrate future capability following the merger of ABRO and DARA. BATTLESPACE met up with DSG PR supremo Alan Robertson for the interview held after an excellent lunch of spit roast pork and salad and of course, lashings of crackling!
Formation of DSG
April 1st 2008 saw the launch of the Defence Support Group (DSG), which brings together the ABRO business units with those of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA) into a single new Government-owned organisation.
As one of the Ministry of Defence's Trading Funds, DSG's primary focus will be in providing expert in-house maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for the through life support of key land and air based platforms and equipment for the UK Armed Forces. It draws together many unique capabilities that have been developed over several decades for the direct benefit of troops and their equipment at both home and abroad.
The combined businesses will turnover in excess of £200m, with a workforce of around 3500 strategically located throughout the UK at 12 sites including Catterick, Telford, Bovingdon, St Atahan, Bicester and Sterling. Directly responsible to Ministers and Parliament, the Chief Executive of the new organisation is Archie Hughes who previously held similar positions in both ABRO and DARA.
DSG had its reputation of quality to live up to right from the onset as DSG’s facilities form a pivotal role in the supply of key Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) into both the Iraq and Afghan theatres.
Archie Hughes CEO of DSG told BATTLESPACE, "The reputations of ABRO and DARA for delivering quality services to our Armed Forces are recognised and acknowledged throughout the world. It is not uncommon for our employees to be right up at the Front Line supporting our troops and making sure the equipment on which they rely is fit for purpose and fully serviceable. DSG staff are out there in Theatre to do a job and do it well, which is readily acknowledged by our military customers."
"In creating DSG, Ministers and the MoD had a clear idea of what they expect from us, we must focus our skills and expertise on supporting our defence customers. Diversification into non-defence markets is a distraction we can no longer afford and our vision is unequivocal - we will excel in supporting defence."
The size and complexity of the UOR process was clearly outlined by Colonel Charlie Clee who heads the MoDs UOR Requirements Branch ant a brief on the BAE Stand during DVD. BAE Systems are the Design Authority for most of the legacy fleet and thus work very closely with DSG in fulfilling these Requirements.
“These are busy and challenging time for the British Armed Forces and our industry partners,” Colonel Clee said, “The MoD has spent £3.5 billion in UOR Requirements equating to 100 active Programmes. To meet the specific needs in specific theatres we are exploiting technology and novel ways of deployment.”
Jim Imrie, Managing Director of Weapons and Vehicles for BAE Systems outlined the work done by BAE, much of which was done in association with ABRO, particularly the Warrior and FV432 UORs.
BAE has supplied 6000 kits for Bulldog including powertrain upgrades, sighting system enhancements, air conditioning and force protection packages including the reactive armour kit and bar armour.
Warrior has had 17 capability upgrades including bar armour, the reactive armour kit as fitted to Bulldog, plexiglass screens and wire cutters. There is an ongoing Study Programme for upgrading the powertrain.
Viking has had bar armour fitted as well as a composite armour package for protection against 20mm. We were told that it is not unusual fro a Viking to return to barracks with 2-3000 round hits on its armour! The wish list as required by the user for Viking is an overhead weapon station (OWS), an ambulance version and an 81mm mortar carrier.
ABRO has undertaken many UORs but its prize UOR is the conversion of the 19960’s FV432 tracked vehicle into the uparmoured and re-engined Bulldog which has seen continuous action in Iraq since its deployment, as shown by an excellent BBC clip on the DSG website.
In May, Baroness Ann Taylor announced that the Army has taken delivery of the 500th upgraded Bulldog infantry troop carrier. The delivery is part of a programme to upgrade 900 of one of the British Army's workhorse vehicles, the FV430 Mk 2. Soldiers from the First Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment who have just returned from Basra were at Bovington in Dorset to thank the workers of the Defence Support Group (DSG) as the vehicle, came off the production line.
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