Friday, July 03, 2009

DTN News: Finland To Upgrade Leopard Tanks, XA-180 AFVs

DTN News: Finland To Upgrade Leopard Tanks, XA-180 AFVs
*Sources: DTN News / European Defence Agency; issued June 30, 2009
(NSI News Source Info) HELSINKI, Finland - July 3, 2009: The Finnish Defence Forces Materiel Command HQ has issued the following contract opportunities notices:
-- LEOPARD 2A4 -SYSTEM MID LIFE UPGRADE:
Army Command has established a Program for Upgrading Finnish Leopard 2 A4 Main Battle Tanks and sent an order to Army Materiel Command to establish a project to execute the acquisition.
In order to be able to fulfil the order, Army Materiel Command Headquarters has decided to issue an RFI to gather more information.
The Finnish Army bought 124 2A4s from surplus German stocks. 20 have been converted into bridge-laying and combat engineering tanks. 12 tanks have been disassembled for use as spares and one tank burned and was a total loss, leaving 91 operational tanks.
This information will be used as basis for the project. Leopard 2 AX –project acquires a Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) for Finnish Leopard 2 A4 main battle tanks (MBT’s). The MLU shall ensure the usability and performance of the fleet as defined in the Clause 3 at least to the 2030s.
--XA-180 AND XA-185 -SYSTEMS MID LIFE UPGRADE:
Army Command has established a Program for Upgrading the ‘XA-180’ and ‘XA-185’ wheeled vehicles and sent an order to Army Materiel Command to establish a project to execute the acquisition.
In order to be able to fulfil the order, Army Materiel Command Headquarters has decided to issue an RFI to gather more information. This information will be used as basis for the project. The XA-180 and XA-185 wheeled vehicles project acquires a Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) for the XA-180 and XA-185 wheeled vehicles.
Finland ~ Finnish Army, Finnish Navy, Finnish Police. 425 XA-180s and 185s, 148 XA-200s XA-180, most upgraded to 185 specs, and configured with special communications equipment XA-185, the most common version, some equipped with TOW turret, most of the Finnish vehicles are armed with a 12.7 mm NSV machine gun.
The MLU shall ensure the usability and performance of the fleet as defined in the Clause 3 at least to the 2030s.

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