Curtiss-Wright has secured a contract to supply the scalable Turret Drive Servo System (TDSS) and other system components for the British Army’s Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank.
The $25m contract was awarded by Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL).
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The TDSS is an aiming and stabilisation system that will enable the Challenger 3 tanks to maintain target location accuracy, as well as support turret stabilisation, when in motion.
It also enables the system designers to upgrade and add stabilisation functionality to meet different mission requirements.
Curtiss-Wright Corporation president and CEO Lynn M Bamford said: “Curtiss-Wright’s selection on this significant ground vehicle upgrade programme highlights RBSL’s trust in Curtiss-Wright’s turret drive stabilisation technology and exemplifies our position as a leader in aiming and stabilisation solutions to the global defence industry.
“Furthermore, our defence electronics technology brings new levels of stability, reliability and high-precision motion control to the ground vehicle market. We look forward to continuing our support of RBSL’s development of the Challenger 3 programme.”
Notably, RBSL is upgrading 148 Challenger 3 tanks under an £800m contract. The digital, network-enabled main battle tank will feature several upgrades.
Commenting on the contract award, RBSL managing director Dr Marco Noeding said: “The turret motion system provided by Curtiss-Wright will be fundamental to the operation of the tank, and our two companies have worked closely together for several years to ensure Challenger 3 would benefit from this impressive capability.”
In February this year, Thales UK secured a contract to supply sighting systems for the Challenger 3 main battle tanks.
