The Bronco ATTC

[BskrCrew]

Hi. I am new to DefenceTalk and I hope this is the appropriate place to post about All-Terrain Tracked Carriers (ATTC); namely the Bronco ATTC.

The Bronco ATTC is a military vehicle from Singapore which has seen its fair share of missions outside Singapore, be it for combat or for humanitarian work.

A variant of the Bronco goes by another name: "Warthog" which served with the British Army in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2015. During its service, it proved to be a reliable vehicle, having encountered about 30 IED attacks with zero fatalities, and clocking more than 30,000 miles.

The newest variant of the Bronco today is the Bronco 3, which had been selected by the US military for arctic trials.

Attached is an infographic I found, comparing the 3 Bronco iterations today. Within these three core vehicles upgrades, are more than 10 military variants (including ambulance, repair and recovery vehicle, load carrier, troop carrier and fuel resupply vehicle) as well as the civilian variant, the ExtremV.

The latest, the Bronco 3, boasts various enhancements from the original Bronco ATTC. To name a few:
1) It has undergone more than a 30% reduction in curb weight from the original Bronco, from 16 to 10 tonnes.
2) Increased max swim speed from 4.5km/h to 5km/h
3) Greater payload capacity, from 5 to 6 tonnes
4) Tested in extreme weather conditions, operational between -45°C to 49°C

It may not look as intimidating as your standard MBT, but it seems to compensate its looks with versatility. Would love to see other charts depicting the evolution of this, or other similar vehicles.

For Reference:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/can-a-vehicle-be-tougher-than-this-bronco-159236.html

Singapore

AsiaOne Singapore News - Read the latest Singapore breaking news, opinions, politics, weather, traffic, and more up-to-date Singapore news at AsiaOne

www.asiaone.com

 

[OPSSG]

@BskrCrew is the GVW for Bronco 3 stated in your post wrong?

If you click on the quote, it will take you to another thread where this was discussed.

On 5 Apr 2021, American firm Oshkosh Defense said that it had been selected by the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC) – along with its partner ST Engineering – to participate in the prototype phase for the US Army’s Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV).

The Oshkosh CATV, which is yet to be built for the NAMC through a Request for Prototype Project (RPP), is derived from the 16.5 ton Bronco 3, which is “a member of the proven, highly effective, and reliable Bronco family of vehicles by ST Engineering”, said Wisconsin-based Oshkosh.

Pat Williams, vice president and general manager of US Army and US Marine Corps programmes at Oshkosh said:

“We are confident that the Oshkosh CATV will enable soldiers to efficiently move personnel and supplies in the most extreme conditions, and we look forward to getting them into the hands of the end user for testing and evaluation.”

I will be very surprised if Bronco 3, powered by the compact MTU 6R 106 (providing 325 hp at 2200 rpm) engine does not win the RPP, as a lot of the risk reduction was done at ST Engineering’s own dime to retain its swim capability and concurrent high protection levels when trials were first conducted in 2012-2013 — where it has undergone more than 1,860 miles of performance testing in arctic conditions as well as covered over 200,000 miles in Afghanistan.

Defense News reported that two vendors in the competitive prototyping effort was selected: the team from Oshkosh Defense and ST Engineering versus BAE Systems, which will offer its BVS-10 Beowulf. It also reported that extreme cold-weather testing and evaluation is set to take place in Alaska at the Cold Regions Test Center from Aug to Dec 2021. Oshkosh said the prototypes will be evaluated on payload, mobility, crush resistance, swimming, and transportability. The US Army plans to buy around 110 in the 1st order in FY2022 and acquire an initial fleet of 163 vehicles; whose numbers can grow to over 200, if the US Marines also decide to acquire CATVs.

Or IS IT DUE to how ST Engineering (Land Systems) chooses to present vehicle stats? With the latest Bronco 3 add-on protection kit not counted in curb weight at 10,200 kg — due to the US Army's new Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle competition (CATV) — the Oshkosh CATV (which is yet to be built), is derived from the Bronco 3.

Welcome to the forum and glad to have your input.

 

[BskrCrew]

Hi @OPSSG, thanks for your reply and glad to be a part of the forum too!

Your post got me thinking too, and perhaps the apparent discrepancy is because (at least from what I've heard yet have no details on) the curb weight of the Bronco 3 ATTC differs due to the varying purpose-built variants of the ATTC, based on the requirements of its users.

After all, the Bronco family is famed for having variants for individual roles, be it for troop carrier, medical or repair & recovery. Different equipment, differing gross weight and hence, varying GVW that never pass a certain threshold.

The Bronco 3 ATTC is bound to continue this legacy, perhaps even more variants. This makes me think that ST Engineering presented its vehicle stats this way to show that the standard/baseline Bronco 3 will have a curb weight of approx. 10 tonnes. And with the necessary equipment add-ons for its upcoming variants, be it for combat, support, command, humanitarian or others, its GVW would probably go up to approx. 16 tonnes. Just my interpretation though, definitely would be keen to hear more input from the experts!

 

[OPSSG]

The Bronco 3 ATTC is bound to continue this legacy, perhaps even more variants. This makes me think that ST Engineering presented its vehicle stats this way to show that the standard/baseline Bronco 3 will have a curb weight of approx. 10 tonnes.

This is being tested in the hope there is foreign buyer interest; but more importantly, it keeps ST’s in-house vehicle design capability current. Many of the original engineers who were involved in design of Bionix, especially sub-systems integration, have left — the problem is staff retention.

And with the necessary equipment add-ons for its upcoming variants, be it for combat, support, command, humanitarian or others, its GVW would probably go up to approx. 16 tonnes. Just my interpretation though, definitely would be keen to hear more input from the experts!

I am no expert on ST but I am glad Singapore has some sovereign capability to build vehicles locally. There are others who know more but can’t speak openly — I am always being corrected by others in DT. We just have to get used to it and learn. It took me years to sound intelligent. Hang in there until you find your stride.

 

[BskrCrew]

Hey thanks for the advice!

And yes, I'm still a fledgling when military tech is discussed. Like I only discovered the impact of Singapore's Bronco a year back. But I suppose its passion that keeps folk like us going.

Glad to have found DefenceTalk !

 

[BskrCrew]

Hi guys, continuing my research on armoured vehicles in my free time and came across this tweet by defence analyst, Nicholas Drummond:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1089553480468049925

.

Changes to military capabilities never cease to amaze me, and seeing the familiar Bronco silhouette in mid-air is quite a unique sight. To think a fully armoured tracked vehicle could take flight (of course, with the help of a trusty Chinook).

Imagine if this was possible in the early 1900s (or even in the early 1990s!), the mobility, speed and reach that it would have offered to defence forces! I’m intrigued by the possibilities that these increasingly light-weight behemoths could present as UGVs. Entering various theatres from ground, sea and land, and then executing missions without needing to put the crew in danger. Let’s not forget support vehicles and those for humanitarian aid as well.

I’m quite a fan of attending the army air shows here in Singapore, and I hope to catch more exciting sights and developments like these when the government here allows for more large-scale events (and hope to score some tickets).

In the meantime, anyone on this community have any other cool shots like these to share in this thread? The Bronco or other similar vehicles in flights, would love to see them!