Monday, February 22, 2016

Sentinel/Terrex 1+ revealed at Singapore Airshow

After only computer generated images from the Sentinel - ST Kinetics' and Elbit's joint venture for the Australian LAND 400 combat reconnaissance vehicle (CRV) - have existed, the Terrex-1+ was revealed at the Singapore Airshow at the 17th February. The Terrex-1+ was painted in Australian Army camouflage patterns.

The Terrex-1+ being showcased on the Singapore Airshow
The Terrex 1+ is an upgraded version of the Terrex wheeled armored fighting vehicle (AFV), which is in service with the Singaporean Army and was offered to the Turkish Army (as Yavuz) and the USMC. It was used as demonstrator how the Sentinel CRV for LAND 400 will be configured. However the Sentinel will be based on the improved Terrex 2, which was downselected together with the BAE/Iveco SuperAV by the US Marine Corps for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) program.

The "tracks over wheel concept" of the Terrex 1+
The Terrex 1+  is fitted with a MT30 turret from Elibt, which mounts a 30 mm Bushmaster II chaingun from ATK, a dual launcher for a top-attack ATGM (Javelin or Spike-LR most likely) and a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun. The commander is provided with a COAPS independent sight fitted with thermal imager, optical day channel and CCTV camera. The gunner is provided with a similarily equipped sight fixed to the left turret front. 
An unique feture of the Terrex 1+ is the ability to mount rubber band tracks over the two frontal wheels, which will help increasing the off-road mobility in bad drive conditions.

A scale model for the LAND 400 contender - note that this vehicle is amphibious, but earlier CGI from Elbit suggested otherwise
The Terrex 2 used for the Sentinel will have a better mine protection and a raised total weight of up to 30 tons compared to the 24 tons of the Terrex-1+. It is also fitted with a more powerful engine.

Elbit and ST Kinetics are a bit slower in coming up with details of their CRV contender or even a full prototype. Rheinmetall's Boxer CRV was pretty much existing before the LAND 400 program was started (since it's largely based on the Boxer IFV with Lance MTS), while Patria and BAE Systems simply adopted their existing E35 turret on their exisiting Patria AMV chassis, first "full" prototypes were already finished in December 2015/January 2016. General Dynamics will offer their LAV 6.0, an upgraded LAV III already in service with the Canadian forces.
On the other hand one has to say that the Terrex 2 is the newest vehicle of all known contenders, so this isn't much of a surpise. This also means that the Terrex 2 is the least proven vehicle though...

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