General Dynamics (GD) UK has completed the critical design review (CDR) for the UK Army’s Scout Specialist Vehicle (SV) reconnaissance variant.
Covering the platform hull design, the Lockheed Martin UK-developed turret, electronic architecture, onboard software solutions, sub-systems and variant-specific products such as the primary sight, the CDR is the final variant-specific review ahead of the planned Scout SV system CDR.
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The Scout SV system CDR is expected to examine all aspects of each platform under a single review.
In September, GD received a £3.5bn contract to supply 589 Scout SVs in six variants to the UK Army, including scout reconnaissance, equipment support repair, equipment and support recovery, command and control, protected mobility reconnaissance support and engineer reconnaissance.
GD UK Land Systems vice-president Kevin Connell said: "The Scout reconnaissance variant is the flagship of the Scout SV programme and will provide a step-change in ground-based ISTAR capability to the British Army.
"The completion of the Scout reconnaissance variant CDR is a significant step in delivering a family of Scout SV platforms, which represent the future of armoured fighting vehicles for the British Army."
UK Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne said: "This latest achievement shows great progress, with Scout SV vehicles well on their way to being ready for army user trials in 2017.
"This is an exciting time for the armoured vehicles business in the UK and it is great news that the Scout programme is already securing approximately 2,400 jobs across the country."
The first Scout reconnaissance pre-production prototype is scheduled to be completed later this year.
After its induction into the army, the Scout reconnaissance variant is expected to provide greater protection and survivability, as well as all-weather intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and recognition capabilities.
It will enable soldiers to be at the point of collection of accurate all-weather commander information within a network-enabled, fully digitised platform.
Image: A pre-production prototype of the Scout SV at Defence Vehicle Dynamics in the UK. Photo: courtesy of Andrew Linnett.
