THE INFANTRY

WARRIOR ARMOURED INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLE FV 510

Warrior is an Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle (AIFV) that replaced the AFV 432 in the armoured infantry battalions in both the UK and in Germany.


Warrior armed with the 30 mm Rarden cannon gives the crew a good chance of destroying enemy APCs at ranges of up to 1,500 m, and the vehicle carries a crew of three plus seven dismounted infantry. The vehicle is NBC proof, and a full range of night vision equipment is included as standard.
 

Warrior has seen successful operational service world wide since 1991, with British troops serving in the Balkans and more recently in the Iraqi War in 2003.

The vehicle has proven protection against mines, and there is dramatic BBC TV footage of a Warrior running over a Serbian anti-tank mine with little or no serious damage to the vehicle or crew.

The hull and mechanical components of Warrior are exceptional and few other vehicles in the world can match it for reliability and performance.

Current plans appear to be for the vehicle to remain in service until 2025.

A Warrior Mid-Life Improvement Programme is currently being implemented. This should provide a new power pack, vehtronics enhancement, a digital fire control system (FCS) and a modern medium calibre cannon system.

This extension of capability for Warrior will provide the necessary lead time for the introduction of future advanced capability systems vehicles to replace both Challenger 2 and Warrior.

The future digitisation programme in-service date (ISD) has slid to around 2017. Current thinking suggests that the British Army may replace existing rifle platoon Warrior with the improved Warrior 2000.

This would release existing Warrior to be refitted to fulfil roles currently carried out by ageing and obsolescent FV 432s. This plan would create a new Battalion Assault Support Vehicle (BASV) which could carry Manoeuvre Support elements, principally 81 mm mortars, at the same pace as the Warrior fighting vehicles.

Numbers in UK service are believed to include 482 x Warrior Basic; 59 x Warrior RA; 126 x Warrior Rec and Repair. Kuwait has the 230 Warrior vehicles in service some of which are Recce vehicles armed with a 90 mm Cockerill gun.

Photo 1 Copyright Defence Support Group (DSG)