General Dynamics Corp. (GD)

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General Dynamics' Piranha V makes FRES provisional selection

By Tim Ripley

09 May 2008

General Dynamics' Piranha V light armoured vehicle has been provisionally selected ahead of Artec's Boxer and Nexter's Vehicule Blind� de Combat d'Infanterie (VBCI) to meet the British Army's Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) Utility Vehicle requirement.

A written statement from the UK Defence Equipment and Support Minister Baroness Taylor described the Piranha V as the "preferred design" but only a "provisional selection".

Accordingly, questions remain over exactly what work needs to be done to get beyond the provisional selection. A statement from General Dynamics UK noted that the company "will now enter negotiations with the MoD to determine the scope of development work required".

The competition to select a Utility Vehicle Integrator is ongoing and - until that decision is made - questions also remain over the exact build strategy to get the vehicle into service, with teams from Artec, BAE Systems, EADS, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Nexter are all vying for the role.

As the MoD's announcement stopped short of a production order, industry executives and UK MoD sources told Jane's they feared that the FRES programme had fallen victim to the UK defence "budget crunch".

http://www.janes.com/news/defence/land/jdw/jdw080509_1_n.shtml