London, UK -- General Dynamics UK has announced that its ASCOD SV candidate for the FRES Specialist Vehicle programme offers the option of early delivery for the heaviest direct fire variants, as a result of its weight capability and turret design.

Chief Engineer John Abunassar said: "From day one, ASCOD SV offers full operation at 42 tonnes. This means it can carry a 120mm gun easily without compromising armour or performance. Our design for a large turret ring is an advantage for the soldiers inside that opens up the flexible option of an early path to the heaviest FRES SV vehicles."

ASCOD SV is capable of full operation at 42 tonnes. This performance is based on the technical maturity of the engine and transmission, which enable tremendous through-life growth. This is a significant advantage for the programme, which is founded on a Common Base Platform to satisfy the full FRES SV fleet of 1200-plus vehicles, including the heavy weight Direct Fire and bridge-layer.

The first FRES SV variants include the Scout, for which ASCOD SV has a turret designed to maximise space for soldiers inside. The large turret-ring diameter of 1.7m is wider than older vehicles such as Warrior, and the design increases space further by placing the main ammunition feed under armour outside the turret crew compartment. This gives soldiers considerable room for modern display screens, comfort for long periods inside the turret and ease of movement, even wearing full body armour and future wearable systems. With the need for military electronics ever-expanding on operations, the turret allows significant room for new systems to be fitted without compromising the design of the vehicle.

ASCOD SV is designed to offer the option of an early, low-risk path to a Direct Fire variant. General Dynamics has already fitted earlier variants of ASCOD in Europe for heavy direct fire roles. ASCOD SV's large turret diameter is designed to be expanded to 2.1m, easily carrying, for example, a 120mm gun on a 1.9m turret ring. The vehicle's 42-tonne capability allows it to carry such a gun at this higher weight without compromising full performance or its ability to carry the full FRES armour.

The turret design combines with the high power-distribution capability of the General Dynamics open Electronic Architecture, which allows new-generation systems to be plugged in as required and power generation to be expanded.

General Dynamics
18.02.2010