In 1995, the UK MoD announced that it had a requirement for a new vehicle called the MultiRole Armoured Vehicle (MRAV) which would replace the current FV432, Saxon (4 × 4) armoured personnel carrier and those members of the Alvis Scorpion Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) family which are not replaced by the future Tactical Reconnaissance Armoured Combat Equipment Requirement (TRACER). The latter has now merged with the US Army Future Scout Cavalry System to become the Armoured Scout and Reconnaissance Vehicle. This is currently funded through to the Project Definition/Advanced Technology Demonstrator phase. Details of this are given in the Reconnaissance vehicles section under International.

Within the UK MRAV programme (also covered in Armoured personnel carriers (wheeled) section under International, there are two distinct armoured vehicles, M1P1 and M2P2.

The M1P1 will be a tracked vehicle and procured on a national basis while the M2P2 will be a wheeled vehicle (8 × 8) procured within the framework of French/German/UK collaboration.

Additional available details on the M1P1 vehicle are given in the entry for the M1P1 under UK in the Armoured personnel carriers (tracked) section. This is also more commonly referred to as the Armoured Battlegroup Support Vehicle (ABSV).

It is expected that the British Army will order up to 1,100 M2P2 wheeled armoured vehicles in the following versions:

1.armoured personnel carrier (180)

2.command vehicle (470)

3.communications vehicle (110)

4.armoured treatment and evacuation vehicle (185)

5.armoured repair and recovery vehicle (quantity not decided)

6.armoured mortar vehicle (quantity not decided)

7.mortar fire-control vehicle (quantity not decided).

The M2P2 is required to operate out of the direct ground fire zone but have good armour protection and mobility with low signature and growth potential to uparmour to a similar level of protection to that of the M1P1.

The latter is required to operate in the direct ground fire zone and have mobility to work with the Challenger 2 MBT and the Warrior mechanised combat vehicle. Status

The ARTEC consortium was selected to meet the MP2P requirement (MRAV) with development contract awarded late in 1999. First prototypes will be completed in 2001.