Protector RWS not there yet

Kongsberg's Remote Weapon Station has proved successful in Iraq, on both Australian and US armoured vehicles, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will win a forthcoming Army contract.
The Australian Army was last year quick to acknowledge the capability and crew protection shortfalls of its ASLAV fleet upon active service in the cauldron of Iraq under Operation Catalyst. In this context, one of the standout examples of a piece of equipment successfully fast-tracked into service to meet an urgent operational requirement is the Kongsberg Protector Remote Weapon Station (RWS).

First fitted to ASLAV-PC (personnel carrier) variants in mid 2004 with the assistance of the Land Engineering Agency and its Prototype Engineering Centre, additional units of the Protector RWS have since been procured by Army - bringing the total to 59.

Non-developmental, in full-rate production and combat proven, the risk of installing the Protector RWS onto ASLAV was virtually nil considering the experience of both Kongsberg and the US Army in fitting it onto more than 600 Stryker 8x8 vehicles to date.

To equip up to eight Stryker brigades, as many as 1,700 Protector RWS may be acquired. On those US vehicles serving in Iraq, the Protector RWS has already accumulated 750,000 operating hours, with a collective availability rate of 99%.

The system has also been successfully demonstrated on a number of other vehicle types, including the AM General HMMWV, Giat VAB, Panhard VBL, Patria XA-203 and AMV, Mowag Piranha and Iveco Puma.

According to the company, the Protector RWS configuration on Stryker, ASLAV-PC, ASLAV-F (fitters) and various Norwegian Army light armoured vehicles, is a fourth generation system, and fully qualified for the M2 QCB 12.7mm heavy machine gun, Mk 19 40mm automatic grenade launcher and MAG-58 7.62mm general purpose machine gun.

Importantly for the Australian Army, the Lockheed Martin/Raytheon Javelin anti-armour missile system has already been fully integrated into the Protector RWS and live fire demonstrations conducted. The ability to fire Javelin from the Protector RWS remains an option for the Australian systems.

In support of the US Army's requirements, Kongsberg has developed a suite of technology insertion enhancements for the Protector RWS on Stryker that include a new thermal imaging sensor, laser rangefinder (already installed on Australian systems), expanded-capacity magazine, new control grip, software improvements and preparing the mount to accept other types of weapons and four-axis stabilisation.

The US Army recently completed testing of a Protector RWS with these 'Block I' improvements to validate and verify system performance. The first Stryker units will begin receiving the Protector RWS Block I early next year.

Current US Army plans call for Protector RWS Block II systems - with stabilisation and increased elevation and slew rates - to be fielded in late 2006.

Locally, ADM has learned that a paper sanctioned by the Capability Development Group has been presented to Lt Gen David Hurley which calls for the use of the Protector RWS across Army's other fleets of armoured vehicles, including M1A1 Abrams, Bushmaster, M113, the self-propelled howitzers proposed under Land 17 and selected B vehicles to be acquired as part of Project Overlander.

It is unclear what response the idea has elicited from Defence, but it would make perfect sense to assume that the acquisition of the Protector RWS will finally fulfil the long-running and previously stalled Behind Armour Commander's Weapon Station (BACWS) project.

However, as much as continuing rolling purchases of Protector RWS to fulfil the BACWS requirement (and other similar requirements that may emerge) makes sense financially, commercially and capability-wise -- an approach backed widely within the DMO -- ADM believes that there remains limited support from other areas of the organisation for an open tender.

As a consequence, Defence will not rule out acquiring an alternative materiel solution for BACWS if it involves superior Australian industry involvement (AII) to the Kongsberg system, even if that means Army ends up with two completely different RWS in its inventory results in duplication of effort for the Land 112 project office, additional costs for the tenderers and further delay for the customer.

Having already accommodated Defence in providing the initial Protector RWS for the ASLAV-PCs as quickly it did last year, Kongsberg is understood to be currently scoping local industry to determine how to best maximise AII for possible future orders.

By Ian Bostock, Sydney