ADM believes there are five (or possibly four and a half) contenders for JP2097 1B, Special Operations Vehicle – Commando, (SOV-Cdo) bids for which closed recently.
They were: BAE Systems (RG41); GD Land Systems (Eagle); Force Protection (Ocelot WMIK); Supacat (Nary) and Thales Australia (Hawkei).
Defence’s intention was to acquire MOTS vehicles for the SOV-Cdo requirement which suggests that Thales’ Hawkei bid may have been accepted as a part offer only.
The SOV-Cdo requirement is for between 40-80 vehicles with considerable speed and agility and able to carry up to eight personnel.
The vehicles would require crew ballistic and mine blast protection.
Proposals would need to include an integrated logistic support (ILS) package covering operating, engineering, maintenance, supply and training support.
The SOV-Cdo will require integration of a range of electronic systems, radios and a Battle Management System (BMS) in the form of a Networked Special Operations Capability - Mounted (NSOC-M).The successful tenderer must be able to work with the NSOC-MContractor (Elbit Systems), who will be responsible for systems integration, design and installation of the NSOC-M on the SOV-Cdo Prototype.
The RFT also sought an option for a SOV Remote Weapon Station (RWS) for possible assessment as a costed option. One assumes that both EOS and Kongsberg have approached all primes with RWS costings’ and integration offers.