The US Army, through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium, has awarded the Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV) prototype development to Oshkosh Defense and BAE Systems. The US military has relied on the Swedish firm Hägglunds’ Bandvagn 206 or BV206 tracked arctic snow rover, now a subsidiary of BAE Systems, to navigate the colder parts of the deployments. Called the Small Unit Support Vehicle (SUSV), the vehicles can be airlifted and adaptable enough to be fitted out for a variety of different missions ranging from transport to anti-tank warfare. The SUSVs are out of production and have become difficult to maintain. These vehicles are no more in production and is currently relying on the cannibilisation of the parts.
Oshkosh Defense has teamed up with Singapore Headquatered ST Engineering for its Bronco 3 All Terrain Tracked Carrier. Bronco’s Warthog variant was customised for the British Army and was deployed in Afghanistan. Bronco 3 has already demonstrated the performance under Arctic conditions. The offering will be a general purpose vehicle, that can be used as a troop carrier, casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) or Command and Control vehicle and can be swapped from one configuration to another in the field within 30 minutes by a two-person crew.
The BAE has not yet commented on the award but, as per its July 2020 release, the company is offering its Beowulf platform built by its subsidiary Hägglunds in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Beowulf and its armored sister vehicle, the BvS10 include several key components from US suppliers, including its engine, transmission and hydraulic system. BvS10 is used by Austria, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
