The Warrior family of tracked armoured vehicles, developed by Alvis Vickers Ltd (now BAE Systems Land Systems), has been proved in action with the British Army in operations in the Middle East during Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom and on United Nations duties in Bosnia. The Desert Warrior family of vehicles has been adapted for operations in hostile desert conditions. Between 1987 and 1995, 789 Warriors were produced for the British Army and 254 Desert Warrior infantry fighting vehicles have been produced for the Kuwaiti Land Force.
Warrior Section Vehicles carry driver, commander, gunner and 7 fully equipped soldiers together with supplies and weapons for a 48 hour battlefield day in NBC conditions. The Warrior adapts to a range of roles with weapon fits ranging from machine pistols to 90mm guns, mortars and missile systems. The Warrior is in service in the following variants: Infantry Section Vehicles, Infantry Command, Repair Vehicles, Recovery Vehicles, Observation Post Vehicles, Artillery Command and Anti-Tank Guided Weapon Carriers.
WARRIOR UPGRADE PROGRAMME
The British Army has plans to upgrade its Warriors to extend their service life to 2025. The upgrade includes: the addition of a night fighting capability in the form of the Thales Optronics Battle Group Thermal Imaging (BGTI) programme; the Bowman Communications System; and a new two-person turret with a 40mm stabilised Case Telescoped Weapon System (CTWS) cannon, which would allow firing on the move. The turret has been developed by CTA International, a joint venture formed by BAE Systems and Giat Industries. A contract was awarded in June 2004 for the delivery of one Warrior vehicle fitted with the turret by December 2006, for the British Army's Manned Turret Integration Programme (MTIP).
SELF-PROTECTION
Smoke grenade launchers are mounted on either side of the turret. In United Nations operations in Bosnia the high level of protection of the crew against small arms, missiles and anti-tank mines was proven. The aluminium armour construction provides protection against 14.5mm armour piercing rounds, 155mm air burst shell fragments and 9kg anti-tank mines. Enhanced protection against other threats can be provided with applique armour.
PROPULSION
The Warrior has four speed fully automatic transmission and hydrostatic drive steering. The Perkins Rolls-Royce V8 Condor engine produces 550bhp giving road speeds of 75km/h. The suspension provides high speed crossing across rough terrain at speeds faster than most main battle tanks. The vehicle is fitted with TR30 single pin tracks from William Cook Defence. All major systems including the power pack can be removed and replaced in less than one hour by two men.
WARRIOR RECONNAISSANCE VEHICLE
The Reconnaissance Vehicle is fitted with additional armoured protection against conventional and chemical attack. Armour shielding covers the front, sides and the suspension of the vehicle. The Warrior Reconnaissance vehicle is normally operated by a crew of three, the driver, commander and the gunner. The vehicle has capacity to accommodate a reconnaissance officer and additional surveillance equipment.
ARMAMENT
The vehicle is equipped with an electrically operated turret designed by Delco which can traverse through a full 360°. The turret is fitted with a ATK Ammuniton Systems (formerly Boeing Ordnance) M242 chain gun on a stabilised mount which allows the gun to be used while the vehicle is in motion. The turret also has an M240 7.62mm machine gun. TOW missile launchers are mounted on each side of the turret. The TOW wire guided anti-tank missile from Raytheon Missile Systems travels at 200m/s to a range of 3,750m. The vehicle has the capacity to carry four TOW missiles in the vehicle and two in the launchers.
FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION
The gunner's station has an optical sight and can be fitted with an electro-optical day/night thermal sight. The commander has seven optical periscopes which provide 360° observation and a dedicated sight for weapon aiming.
Thales (formerly Pilkington) Optronics has been selected to supply new thermal imaging gunner's sights for 450 British Army Warriors, under the Battle Group Thermal Imaging (BGTI) programme, replacing the current image intensifying sights. The BGTI programme will also provide new laser rangefinder, GPS navigation system and associated display screens. The first vehicles equipped with BGTI will enter service in 2003.
The driver's station is equipped with three optical periscopes, the central periscope is replaceable with an electro-optical periscope which gives passive night vision capability. A mast mounted sensor with a driver's thermal viewing system can be installed.
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