Read that with interest too. In the section about Special Operations Vehicles I noted reference to a 'Protected Heavy (Mobility)' project with the comment ... Contract returned from ADF and under review by MoD . A quick search of Aus SpecOps Protected Heavy Mobility shows the BushMaster. So from this do I deduce NZSAS will get 2nd hand ADF BushMasters much like Fiji did?
In the March Army News page 17 there is a good run down on the light mortars project.Three hand held mortars per company with a further 4 Bipod mortars in each Infantry Battalion.Interestingly the moneys in the ammunition with rounds costing similar to the 81mm mortar. The ammunition supply ship post Skyhawks,4 Frigate Navy & GFC only visits our shores once or twice a year is a constraint..Manufacture of the systems and ammo takes a year.No indication on quantities , so Im not sure if TF battalions included.
Are NZ replacing their extant 81mm mortar capability with this 60mm system?In the March Army News page 17 there is a good run down on the light mortars project.Three hand held mortars per company with a further 4 Bipod mortars in each Infantry Battalion.Interestingly the moneys in the ammunition with rounds costing similar to the 81mm mortar. The ammunition supply ship post Skyhawks,4 Frigate Navy & GFC only visits our shores once or twice a year is a constraint..Manufacture of the systems and ammo takes a year.No indication on quantities , so Im not sure if TF battalions included.
http://army.mil.nz/downloads/pdf/army-news/armynews480.pdf
Not that I'm aware off .The Battalions 81 mm Mortars were incorporated into 16th Field Regiment (161 Battery & 163 Battery ) (TF 11/4 Battery forms part of 16th Reg) and remain there. The light mortar gives albeit 60mm a mortar element to the infantry and SAS.Page 12 11/4 battery Training Nov Dec Army news page 12.Other Mortar Training articles in 2016 Army News as I recall.
A B757 hop over and back must also be in the mix if they are basically sending over a Battalion sized contingent.
The Bushmasters are featured in this rather nice Australian Military Sales Equipment Catalogue pdf brochure.
The Bushmaster cannot be transported in a C130, at least not any practical sense. If you wanted to move them around by air, you'd need a bigger aircraft.
Most of the troops will deploy by air only a small amount will come across with CAN.
Interesting what is for sale.
Raven the attachment info for the Bushmaster states C130 capable. So what has to be removed inoder for it to fit? The pintle for the HMG? I can understand a RWS.
There's two issues. The height and the surface pressure. The Bushmaster is too high to fit under the wing box, so you have to take everything off the top off the vehicle and essentially completely deflate the tyres.
Is usually the case with these ex's, in fact CY is not even full full embarked forces, mainly crewman, drivers and a few add ons ie half full rooms (full 12 would get alittle cabin feverish IMO). They then try and swap out the guys on the return leg so more get a taste of the sea life (is not for everyone haha).
Think we tried offloading the excess 35 to a south american customer awhile ago with no joy so perhaps not as easy as it seems. Would like to see a one for one replacement for the excess LAV with bushmaster to provide another coy lift capability (2/1 based?) amongst other roles to give us more practical options and added under armour capabilities. The 60 armoured pinzgauer variants need replacement ASAP as well IMHO, hawkei, LMT etc which will give us a wider and more importantly better suited range of armoured vehicles ie light, med, heavy (in a NZ context) supported by the armoured MANs.
Wonder if it would be feasible to convert some of the extra hulls to accomadated the Cockerill 105mm gun like the Suadi's, that way it put artillery under armor
It has been a thought of mine for the last couple of years, that 18 - 24 of the NZLAV converted to a FS-SPG (Fire Support SPG) would not be a silly idea. The Cockerill 105mm turret has already been integrated onto the GDLS Canada LAV.