NGAFV to Reach Singapore Army Next Year

08 Februari 2018

Next Generation Armoured Fighting Vehicle (photo : Shephard)

ST Kinetics will begin production of its Next Generation Armoured Fighting Vehicle (NGAFV) ‘soon’, the company said, as the tracked vehicle made its first appearance at the Singapore Airshow.

The first AFVs for the Singapore Army will be delivered next year, and Singapore will also field variants such as an armoured recovery vehicle and bridge-layer. However, the Ministry of Defence has not disclosed the number of vehicles ordered.

The type was designed in conjunction with the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA).

The NGAFV will replace the M113A2 Ultra in service. Its mission parameters will also remain different to the Bionix, also made by ST Kinetics, which is actually a lighter IFV.

The vehicle exhibited at Singapore Airshow is the sole prototype, armed with a 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II cannon plus a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun mounted in an Adder M 30 stabilised RWS.

ST Kinetics offers a number of RWS armaments for its armoured vehicles, including a 5.56mm, 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine gun, 40mm automatic grenade launcher and a multi-shot grenade launcher for riot control purposes.

Marcus Tai, assistant principal engineer, tracked mobility centre of Kinetics Design & Manufacturing, told Shephard that the design was a clean-sheet one. Although ST Kinetics leveraged experience from such AFVs as the Terrex and Bionix, it is a brand new design.

Tai described the vehicle as ‘the world’s first fully digitised AFV’. It has features such as a 360° camera surveillance system and open architecture to mitigate obsolescence issues. A vehicle monitoring system promotes fleet-wide maintainability and quicker turnaround for repairs.

A commander’s independent sight allows hunter-killer engagements, while the whole vehicle is designed to be user friendly for easy use by Singapore’s conscript army.

The vehicle weighs between 29t and 32.5t depending on the weapon system and armour level chosen. A 710hp MTU 8V-199 TE20 engine is coupled to the company’s own HMX3000 automatic transmission. It has a top speed of 70km/h and a 500km range.

The NGAFV measures 6.9m long, 3.28m wide and 3.2m high. It accommodates eight troops in addition to the crew of three. 

Mobile Protected Vehicle (photo : Monch)

ST Kinetics is working with partner SAIC to promote it to the US for the latter’s Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) requirement, where it would receive a 105mm gun in a Cockerill 3105 turret.

A future direction for the NGAFV is integrating the use of unmanned technology such as UAVs and Jaegar UGVs that would be carried aboard and deployed by the crew.

ST Kinetics also exhibited its Terrex 2 8x8 APC at the Singapore Airshow, this vehicle customised for the USMC’s Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) 1.1 competition. The company expressed confidence in its ACV 1.1 bid, even though the competition is fierce.

Weighing 30t, the Terrex 2 is amphibious in up to Sea State 3. The vehicle shown at the exhibition had an Adder DM 40/50 RWS installed.

The Singaporean company continues to market the original Terrex (as used by the Singapore Army), Terrex 2 and Terrex 3 as a complete family. The latter, a 35t vehicle with no amphibious capability, had been entered in the Australian Army’s Land 400 Phase 2 competition.

(Shephard)