The British army is planning to replace 10 000 Land Rover Defenders. Guess
> what's a front runner.. G-Wagen!
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formatting link
> Below my signature I am pasting the whole article (from the Sunday Times UK)
> for those who can't follow the link.
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> DAS
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> July 18, 2004
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> End of an icon
>
> Last post for an army hero
> The British Army is thinking the unthinkable: ditching its
> venerable Land Rover for a better equipped Mercedes model, reports Tom
> Robbins of The Sunday Times
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> After half a century, the Land Rover's position as the mainstay
> vehicle of the British Army is about to come to an end. The Ministry of
> Defence has begun a project to replace the current fleet of more than 10,000
> Land Rover Defenders with vehicles better equipped to deal with the changing
> nature of modern war.
> The Defence Procurement Agency is carrying out trials to decide
> what to replace the Land Rover with. In a move that will shock patriotic
> Land Rover enthusiasts, one of the frontrunners being considered is > Mercedes-Benz.
>
> Mercedes currently has no major contracts to supply tactical
> vehicles to the military, but has set up a subsidiary - Mercedes-Benz UK
> Defence - in order to win Ministry of Defence (MoD) business. Earlier this
> month the division enjoyed a large presence at the Defence Vehicle Dynamics
> 2004 show - a high-security, restricted-access motor show for the military.
>
> While military sales of the Land Rover are not crucial to the
> business (the last big order was for 8,000 Defenders in 1995, whereas 28,315
> Defenders were made last year alone), the army's reliance on the vehicle in
> almost every campaign since the end of the second world war has given it
> massive goodwill and loyalty among civilian buyers.
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> The war in Iraq has played an important part in convincing
> military planners that the era of the Land Rover should be ended. Put
> simplistically, in earlier wars, tanks and armoured vehicles would go into
> battle and win the ground before the unarmoured Land Rovers would be moved
> up to patrol the area. However, in Iraq, following the short campaign
> involving tanks, the unarmoured Land Rovers patrolling the streets have been
> subject to numerous ambushes and attacks, leaving soldiers keen to have more
> protection.
>
> Adding armour means adding weight, and the problem is that Land
> Rovers have a lower payload capacity than rivals. The current army Defender
> has a payload of just over one ton, and after the weight of armour is added,
> this leaves little capacity for troops and equipment.
>
> "One ton really isn't enough in the modern world," says Shaun
> Connors, co-editor of Jane's Military Vehicles.
>
> Even without the need for armour, the Ministry of Defence is
> looking for vehicles that can carry more, as modern soldiers have
> ever-increasing amounts of high-tech equipment and weaponry. Some versions
> of the Mercedes G-wagen can carry more than two tons.
>
> "Protection is becoming a big issue," says Nick Fox, the manager
> of the Operational Utility Vehicle System (OUVS) project, which includes
> replacing the existing Land Rover fleet. "If you're putting half a ton of
> armour on a vehicle, plus the kit, plus the men, the payload becomes an
> issue, and a light vehicle like a Land Rover is limited."
>
> The ministry has not ruled out replacing some of the Land Rovers
> with newer versions, but experts believe this is unlikely in any great
> number. At present it is not even clear what Land Rover could offer.
> Industry experts say that the iconic Defender is set to be replaced,
> probably around 2007, with a model based on the T5 platform used in the new
> Discovery 3. This uses a monocoque (a combined body and chassis) for better
> handling, whereas the Defender used a separate body and ladder-frame
> chassis, making it easier for different bodies to be bolted on in different
> military scenarios. "For military purposes, the new Discovery would be next
> to useless," says Connors.
>
> The OUVS project covers the entire tactical support fleet of
> vehicles capable of carrying up to a six-ton payload, and so will also see
> the replacement of about 1,000 Pinzgauer off-roaders and about 850 of the
> despised Reynolds-Boughton trucks. The decision on what will replace them is
> expected around 2007, with the vehicles in use by 2009. It does not extend
> to the "white fleet" of non-tactical vehicles - catering vehicles used on
> army bases, for example - which will keep the Land Rovers already in use. >
> The ministry has said it is keen to use one supplier to replace
> all the vehicles in the OUVS range. This gives Mercedes, and its
> DaimlerChrysler parent, a distinct advantage.
>
>
> It can supply the G-wagen, the Unimog truck, and also stretched
> and uprated versions of the Dodge Ram and Jeep Wrangler. British officers
> recently visited Dodge in America to look at these vehicles. Defence
> officials also see a global supply chain, such as DaimlerChrysler's, as an > advantage.
>
> But there are other contenders for the OUVS contract including
> Iveco, the Italian truck maker, Ford, using its F350 pick-up, or a
> third-party company such as Ricardo, using a combination of vehicles from
> other marques.
>
> Land Rover believes there could be some business for it in the
> OUVS programme, but with the future of the Defender uncertain, and the
> ministry's exact requirements yet to be clarified, the company cannot say if
> it is intending to bid for any of the business.
>
> "We are interested in military business," says Phil Wilson, Land
> Rover's contracts and business development manager for government and
> military operations. "The problem is that at the moment the MoD doesn't know
> exactly what it wants. It has come up with a broad overview of the type of
> vehicles needed, but nothing specific. It's a bit difficult for us, with our
> current model programme, to see where we might fit in."
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