Future of Manned Recce

More than a year after General Dynamics UK won the contract to produce what was then the FRES Scout, the Scout SV (specialist vehicle) programme is on budget, ahead of schedule and all set to impress the British Army.

Based on the existing 1990s ASCOD - Austrian Spanish Cooperative Development - vehicle, the Scout SV effectively

sacrifices almost all of that vehicle's innards in favour of the up-to-date electrical systems and advanced technologies needed to make it a fully-fledged ground ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) asset. The Scout goes further in having an enlarged turret ring on top to house the stabilised Lockheed Martin turret and 40mm Cased Telescoped cannon, which completed its first firing tests in May, five months ahead of schedule.

The £500m demonstrator contract for Recce block 1, signed in July 2010, called for seven vehicles: three Scout SVs and three specific variants – repair, recovery and an infantry carrier – as well as a common base platform. A decision on how many of each variant will ultimately go into service with the British Army is to come once full trials are over and requirements are finalised, possibly in 2014, but the contract includes options for between 400 and 589 of the vehicles.

GDUK say the vehicle will offer mine protection equivalent to a Mastiff, better lethality and mobility than Warrior and Scimitar, as well as a direct fire capability, in a proposed 'direct fire' variant fitted with a 120mm gun, equivalent to a Challenger II main battle tank. They are bold claims, but ones that the Scout's technology and construction seem more than able to live up to.

GDUK has already created five prototype base units as they gear up to integrating all of the Scout's technologies together into full prototypes in coming months. As this work goes on they are also testing the vehicle's range of high-technology equipment – some of which has simply not been used before.

A mobile test rig, due before the end of 2011, will be driven to "near destruction" in order to tease out all of the "early life failures" which may occur on the common power, cooling, suspension and weight management systems before the main trials begin. Other individual systems will also be "de-risked" as much as possible before being integrated for full trials.

Turret and weapons systems
The first live firing of the Cased Telescoped 40mm cannon, attached to an early version of the turret on a prototype Scout base, took place at the Rheinmetall Landsysteme facility in Germany in May. Just 20 rounds were fired in what the MoD Scout project leader Roddy Malone called "a very impressive" test, and further firings of the turret attached to Scout are not now due for another 18 months. In the meantime, trials of the turret's stabilisation and ammunition handling systems, as well as the remainder of the ammunition qualification trials, will continue.

The turret's stabilisation is a key upgrade over Scimitar's 30mm Rarden cannon, and in conjunction with the Scout's computerised fire control system is said to enable moving targets to be engaged and hit first time while the vehicle is moving across rough terrain.

The main turret's primary sight, developed by Thales, will give Scout commanders a 360-degree view of the battlefield - along with thermal imaging capabilities - and can automatically detect and track potential targets from their heat signature, alerting crews to their presence. The Scout demonstrator will also feature the British Army's first under-armour laser target designator, which will be an optional feature on some units.

The turret's secondary sight, intended for the Scout's gunner, will provide a high definition colour camera, and both sights will have full digital video outputs which can be used to transmit the Scout's video feed to be monitored externally.

The vehicle will also be armed with a 7.62mm co-axial machine gun as well as banks of electrically operated grenade launchers.

The 34-tonne Scout will have a load-carrying potential of up to 42 tonnes, allowing for further developments over its anticipated 30-year lifespan. Like the ASCOD, its size will undoubtedly have its pros and cons. The infantry carrier variant, for example, will be able to carry eight 'dismounts' – personnel in full body armour – as well as its two crew, whereas the main scout variant will hold two crew and four dismounts.

The power and size of the common base platform allow a range of possible future variants, including liaison, escort, overwatch, engineering support, command and control, ambulance, bridge layer and direct fire vehicles. Either way, the current design and testing phase will prove critical in determining the army's future capability for some thirty years to come, fulfilling at least some of its Future Rapid Effects System dream in the process.