Warrior tracked armoured vehicle


The Warrior tracked vehicle family is a series of British armoured vehicles, originally developed to replace the older FV430 series of armoured vehicles. The Warrior started life as the MCV-80, "Mechanised Combat Vehicle for the 1980s". One of the requirements of the new vehicle was a top speed able to keep up with the projected new MBT, the MBT-80 - later cancelled and replaced by what became the Challenger 1 - which the then-current FV432 could not. The project was begun in 1972. GKN Defence won the production contract in 1984 and the Warrior was accepted for service with the British Army in November 1984. GKN Defence was purchased by BAE Systems, via Alvis plc.
A total of 789 FV510 and variants were manufactured for the British Army, and 254 of a modified version were produced for the Kuwaiti Army.

Description

The Warrior incorporates several design features in keeping with the UK's battlefield experience. In particular, there are no firing ports in the hull, in line with British thinking that the role of the armoured personnel carrier/infantry fighting vehicle is to carry troops under protection to the objective and then give firepower support when they have disembarked. The absence of firing ports also allows additional appliqué armour to be fitted to the sides of the vehicle, which is invariably applied to Warriors involved in active operations. The cage armour used at one stage was replaced in 2007 by "Wrap Two" appliqué armour. The basic armour provides all-around protection against small arms ball ammunition.
The crew of a Warrior comprises the driver, seated in the front hull, and the gunner and commander, who are both seated in the turret. The embarked infantry section can number up to seven soldiers, who are seated facing each other in the rear hull compartment. Passenger access is through a single electric ram powered door at the rear of the hull, rather than a drop-down ramp as in the US M113 APC and M2 Bradley IFV. Warrior Section Vehicles are able to carry and support seven fully equipped soldiers together with supplies and weapons, including a number of anti-tank weapons, for a 48-hour battlefield day in nuclear/biological/chemical conditions.
The Warrior is driven by a Perkins-Rolls-Royce V8 Condor engine through a four-speed automatic gearbox. It is capable of a road speed of. The Warrior has the speed and performance to keep up with a Challenger 2 main battle tank over the most difficult terrain.
The vehicle is fitted with a two-man GKN Sankey turret, armed with a non-stabilized L21A1 30 mm RARDEN cannon capable of destroying some APCs at a maximum range of, and an L94A1 EX-34 7.62 mm Hughes Helicopters coaxial chain gun. It is fitted with two clusters of four defensive grenade launchers.
All Warrior Infantry Section Vehicles are now equipped with Bowman radios, which replaced the earlier Clansman radios, for enhanced communications, command and control. When first introduced, the vehicles were fitted with passive Image intensifier night vision sights. These have since been progressively replaced with Thales Optronics Battle Group Thermal Imaging sights to upgrade night fighting capabilities, with 8x magnification. As of 2007, 350 vehicles were fitted with BGTI.

Combat history

The protection against small arms, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank mines was shown during the UN operations in Bosnia. Two Warriors were destroyed during the First Gulf War, with nine soldiers killed, in a friendly fire incident when hit by an AGM-65 Maverick launched in error by an American A-10 Thunderbolt II.
As of 17 November 2008, 22 soldiers had been killed while travelling in Warrior IFVs in Afghanistan or Iraq. On 7 March 2012, six British soldiers were killed in an explosion that hit a Warrior IFV in Helmand.

Variants

Upgrades already fitted to Warriors in British Army service included the Bowman Communications System and Thales Battle Group Thermal Imaging night sights. However the British Army determined that a bigger upgrade programme was required to extend its service life to 2040.
The Warrior Capability Sustainment Program will involve upgrading 380 Warriors with the Warrior Modular Protection System and Warrior Enhanced Electronic Architecture. Within that group, 245 vehicles will also be fitted with a new turret and weapon system under the Warrior Fightability Lethality Improvement Program. The remainder, which will be designated as Armoured Battlefield Support Vehicles, will lack turrets and carry out field repair and recovery roles using a winch and crane attachments.
BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin competed for the WCSP contracts. Lockheed Martin's WFLIP upgrade was based on the existing Warrior turret. BAE Systems designed a new turret. In March 2011, it was announced that Lockheed Martin had effectively won the competition to develop both the WFLIP and the FRES turrets. Severe budgetary pressures made it uncertain whether these defence projects were to be delayed or curtailed, but it was announced in October 2011 that the Warrior upgrades would proceed at a cost of £1bn, extending the service life of the Warrior to 2040 and beyond. The scheduled in-service date for upgraded Warriors was 2018.
Under the WFLI program, the present turret mounting the RARDEN cannon, which lacks stabilisation and is manually loaded with three-round clips, will be replaced by a turret that will mount a stabilised 40 mm weapon developed by the Anglo-French firm CTA International and firing Cased telescoped ammunition. This weapon will also equip the Ajax armoured vehicle.
As of March 2020, Warrior CSP is the "demonstration phase", demonstrating capability for a range of military missions set by the MoD. A total of £430m has been spent so far. No in-service date has been set, but the demonstration phase is due to finish in 2021. In June 2020 the House of Commons Defence Select Committee described the project as running over three years late and £227 million over budget.

Operators