The eyes and ears of the battlefield.

Reconnaissance is a key feature of military activity whether on land, sea or air. Land vehicles have been used for reconnaissance for nearly a century, indeed light armoured 'cars' preceded the tank, and now the range of reconaissance vehicles is an astonishing wide one in terms not only of platform but also of sophistication.

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The range of vehicles reflects both customers' budgets and their reconnaissance philosophy. If reconnaissance is a form of robbery then the vehicles can act in a wide range of roles from cat burglars to ram raiders obtaining information by stealth or by varying degrees of force.

Geographic regions, whether temperate, bush,jungle or desert, are a factor in vehicle selection together with the anticipated form of operation which may be high-intensity, operations-other-than-war or peace-keeping/peace support. The army view about the degree of autonomy its reconnaissance assets are expected to have also shapes decisions about selecting reconnaissance vehicles.

In the traditional reconnaissance role unarmoured vehicles such as Jeeps and Land Rovers have relied upon troops dismounting from their vehicles to conduct a covert examination, indeed the US Army defines the acquisition of information by stealth as 'scouting'. Scout vehicles not only continue to be used but also are becoming more popular through the use of multi-role light (four to six tonnes) vehicles for greater flexibility but more often the crews remain within the vehicle and exploit developments in electro-optical technology; especially thermal imagers and TV cameras.

This was underlined at the end of 2003 when the British Army signed a 200 million [pounds sterling] ($ 320 million) contract with Alvis Vickers for 486 Iveco Multirole Light Vehicle (MLV) to meet the Future Command and Liaison Vehicle (FCLV) requirement to replace the 'soft' 4 x 4 Land Rover. This was issued in February 1999, and covered a variety of roles--including reconnaissance--and demanded protection against small arms fire, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.

It was originally planned to give the vehicle a greater reconnaissance role, but most of these requirements have now been passed to the Future Rapid Effect System (Fres) programme. The MLV will, however, retain a scout role. This vehicle was in fact developed for the Italian Army and Alvis Vickers will now be able to market it in certain parts of the Middle East and Far East.

This award represents a trend towards multi-purpose vehicles rarely armed with anything more than a .50 calibre machinegun or perhaps a 40 mm grenade launcher. The advantage of such vehicles is that they can be used for a wide variety of roles including infantry transport, command posts and even ambulances. They are mobile in a wide variety of terrain types and have sufficient protection against the lower grade threats such as mines and small arms fire.

The success of the Arge (Arbeitsgemeinschaft) Fennek or German-Dutch Fennek Industrial Consortium (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Geldrop, a subsidiary of RDM) illustrates bow valuable such vehicles are--not only to the smaller armies, but also to the larger ones.

The three-man crew of the Fennek can operate autonomously for up to five days under armour within the air-filtered, NBC-protective overpressure environment of the cabin. Considerable use is made of electro-optics, indeed one system can help the driver reverse out of danger, and thermal imagers are the basis of the reconnaissance role with German sensors on extendable masts. For self-protection there is a remotely operated overhead weapon mounting.

KMW will be responsible for the reconnaissance kit element with 202 reconnaissance vehicles replacing tracked vehicles and Land Rovers in the Dutch Army while 178 will replace a variety of vehicles including the much heavier (and two-driver) Thyssen-Henschel Luchs 8 x 8 in the German Army. This under a 500 million [euro] contract placed in December 2001 for 612 vehicles which includes anti-armour, general purpose and engineer vehicles. Further orders are likely, as the German Army is hoping to acquire up to 160 to replace the M113 as battlefield surveillance radar vehicles with the sensor on a five-metre extendable mast.

The advantage for major armies operating the Fennek and similar vehicles, such as the 3.5 tonne Panhard VBL and 5 to 6 tonne Ramta Ram, is that it can be driven into most transport aircraft; such as the ubiquitous C-130 Hercules and the C160 Transall. It is competing with the Alvis Scarab (an unsuccessful contender for FLCV) and France's Acmat for the Belgian Army's Reconnaissance 2001 programme, which is also likely to influence the Luxembourg Army. It will certainly be offered for export outside the European theatre.

Inevitably, the US forces' AM General High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, also know as the Hummer or Humvee, has drifted into the reconnaissance role essentially because the US Army felt its prime reconnaissance platform, the M-3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle, was inadequate for the role. Several versions of the Humvee are used extensively in the reconnaissance role; e.g. the M-1025 Armament Carrier and the M-1114 Up-Armored Humvee with 1.4 tonne packages produced by O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt (the vehicle seen in our title picture carries a shielded 40 mm grenade launcher), but many infantry units use conventional vehicles for the scout role.

A derivative of the M-1113 Expanded Capability Vehicle (ECV) is the basis for the Turkish Otokar Cobra. The company earlier produced a derivative of the Land Rover as the Akrep (Scorpion) reconnaissance vehicle and has been delivering the Cobra to Turkish forces since 1997. Yet another Hummer derivative for the reconnaissance role is the five tonne Mowag Eagle, with the Eagle I having been acquired by both Denmark and Switzerland while the Eagle II, based on the Hummer ECV, has been purchased by Switzerland. Mowag has recently rolled out a prototype of a six-tonne Eagle IV (the Eagle III is an artillery observation vehicle) based on the latest Duro (4 x 4) all-terrain vehicle chassis with its patented roll stabiliser system and proven De Dion system for high capacities on and off the road (see full technical details in Armada 1/2004, page 49). Strangely, the Swiss manufacturer claims that this much larger and more powerful vehicle could be cheaper to acquire than the Hummer-based Eagle III.

In conventional, high-intensity warfare or even in peace or support type operations, reconnaissance vehicles may not be in a position to rely upon their stealth capabilities, and as they normally operate beyond the range of their more heavily armoured comrades greater degrees of protection or armament may be required.

A link between the dedicated reconnaissance vehicle and the larger, multi-role type is the Cadillac Gage 7.2 tonne Scout 4 x 4, which was acquired by Egypt and Indonesia and whose armament options range from those of the scout vehicles to a 20 mm Oerlikon gun in a one-man turret

Larger wheeled vehicles are proving increasingly popular in reconnaissance. Mowag's Piranha I has appeared in 6 x 6 and 8 X 8 versions and the latter was produced in Canada as the Light Armoured Vehicle 25 (Lav-25) with the 25 mm Bush-master gun. The Lav-25 was acquired by the US Marine Corps for reconnaissance, although General Dynamics of Canada later produced a dedicated reconnaissance version, the Lav-25 (Reconnaissance). In 2002, the company won an order worth $203 million for its 13.4 tonne vehicle from the Canadian forces, who designated it Coyote.

This features the Computing Devices Canada Reconnaissance Vehicle Surveillance System (RVSS) in two versions: battlegroup and brigade. The former consists of demounted electro-optic and Thales Mstar radar sensors set up on tripods up to 200 metres from the vehicle, while the latter has the same sensors on a mast that can extend up to ten metres. The 150 Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (Aslav) are being supplied as part of Project Land 112 Phase 3 and will include 81 conventional vehicles (Aslav-25) which are believed to be battlegroup vehicles and 15 surveillance variants (Aslav-S) which are believed to be brigade vehicles. Spain's Santa Barbara produced the 13.75 tonne Vehiculo de Exploracion de Caballeria with 20 mm and 25 mm Bushmaster guns.

The later Mowag Piranha III multi-purpose vehicle family was selected by the Canadian Army as its Lav-III. The US Army selected this as the basis of the Interim Armored Vehicle later designated Stryker, and this vehicle now forms the basis for the new American expeditionary brigades pending the arrival of the Future Combat System (FCS). A reconnaissance version, the XM-1127 carrying up to five scouts, is being considered.

The 25 mm Bushmaster gun is adequate for use against infantry and light armoured vehicles but armies that wish to provide more powerful fire support seek larger weapons, such as the 90 mm medium pressure gun used by the Panhard Automitrailleuse Legere (AML). This is because, in terms of vehicles with a more powerful armament, France's Panhard seems almost to have coined the phrase 'more bang for the buck'.

Its 8.3 tonne 6 x 6 Engin de Reconnaissance Canon (ERC) 90 or Sagaie and a version of its 5.5 tonne 4 x 4 AML each carry a 90 mm gun capable of using high explosive, anti-armour, canister and smoke munitions. Versions of the latter vehicle, which was produced in South Africa as the Eland, also have a 60 mm mortar. The manufacturers are now offering upgrades of both vehicles with diesel engines to replace the more vulnerable petrol units (see Upgrade Approach at the end of this article).

Fighting for Info

Many armies (including the United States) believe that they need either to fight for information or provide strong fire support for their reconnaissance vehicles, which operate far ahead of the main force. Main battle tanks and troop carrier vehicles are used in some countries for reconnaissance, but others prefer dedicated wheeled heavy vehicles, which are almost light tanks. They replace the high velocity 105 mm gun, whose recoil would threaten to overturn them, with low recoil 105 mm guns but they have very limited sensor suites.

Giat's 6 X 6 AMX-10RC has proved a formidable vehicle supporting many French Army overseas operations. The diesel-powered, fully amphibious 15.9 tonne vehicle has been ordered by both Morocco and Qatar bringing total orders to 450 and the gun is supported by a Cotac fire-control system and either a television or thermal imager sighting system. Back in the early 1990s, the company also worked on a demonstrator, the 28-tonne 8 X 8 Vextra, that can be armed with, inter alia, the TML 105 turret. Had this privately funded project not been discontinued it would probably have competed on the export market against Textron Marine & Land Systems' 18.5-tonne Cadillac Gage LAV-600 which uses many of the automotive components of the LAV-300 armoured personnel carrier and incorporates the turret of the Stingray light tank used by the Royal Thai Army.

The 8 x 8 configuration is also used as the basis for vehicles using the 105 mm gun. Iveco has had the greatest success with the 25-tonne Centauros, which, like many other vehicles discussed here, illustrates the trend towards using wheeled vehicles as tank substitutes for expeditionary forces as well as for reconnaissance. The fire control system is the Galileo Tank Universal Reconfigurable Modular fire control System (Turms) installed in the Ariete main battle tank, and the vehicle can also accept explosive reactive armour. Reactive armour was fitted onto vehicles sent to Somalia and has also been selected by Spain whose order brings total production to 422. It is interesting to note that the Centauro has been used in operations-other-than-war not only in Somalia but also in Bosnia with minor modifications to the turret to enhance close-in protection. Equally interesting, a 120 mm gun has been successfully mounted in a Centauro.

A 105 mm version of the South African 28-tonne Rooikat is now being marketed--240 of the 76 mm gun version have been acquired domestically. An 8 x 8 13.9 tonne version of the Cadillac Gage LAV family, the LAV-105, was also produced for the reconnaissance role to meet a US Marine Corps requirement as the Light Armored Vehicle Assault Gun using the M-35 gun developed for the M8 Armored Gun System. Neither has acquired commercial orders and, while Mowag is offering the 10 x 10 18-tonne Piranha III in this configuration, to date the only export customer is Sweden, which has acquired unarmed armoured command vehicle versions to support coastal defence artillery forces.

On Track

Arguably, the classic tracked vehicle is the Alvis Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance-Tracked (CVR-T) range whose reconnaissance vehicles are the Scorpion and Scimitar and are normally armed with the 76 mm gun and the 30 mm Rarden cannon respectively and weighing between 7.8 and 8.72 tonnes. These vehicles were designed with a Jaguar XK petrol engine but several customers such as Malaysia and Indonesia preferred a diesel engine, while others have preferred a vehicle with better firepower and had a Cockerill 90mm gun installed (see Upgrade Approach at the end of this article).

Although the CVR-T family dates back to the late 1960s it had been designed with air transport to distant trouble spots in mind. An unusual feature is the weight distribution, which allows the vehicle to traverse terrain upon which a soldier is unable to walk. The vehicles continue to serve but are clearly outpaced by developments in weapons technology.

The most recent attempt to emulate this concept has come from MaK with the Wiesel light (2.8 tonnes) vehicle. Designed specifically for air transport, this family of vehicles is reminiscent of the US Marine Corps' Ontos or even the British Universal Carrier but it can certainly be used for reconnaissance and an anti-armour version with the Hot from Euromissile includes an elevating sensor pod, although most vehicles have either a 20 mm gun or Tow anti-armour missiles.

The T2 Stalker, unveiled to the Western World at the 2001 Idex defence expo, was a real head turner. Produced by Minotor-Service of Belarus, the sleek tracked vehicle looks fast--and is, the 27.4-tonne being able to flirt with the magic 100 km/h (60 mph) mark. Not only is it capable of 1000 km on a full tank, the Stalker also packs an impressive suite of armament and electronics that readily enables it to be injected into a battlefield management environment. While the overall reduced visual and radar signature feature of the Stalker is obvious, its fire control system incorporates multi-channel day/night passive surveillance and an aiming unit providing acquisition, automatic selection and tracking of moving targets together with range. Any acquired data is automatically transmitted to a command post. The 2T weapon system includes a 30 mm automatic cannon with a 7.62 co-axial machinegun, two retractable missile launchers (2 ATGW or 2 Sam on each) and a 30 mm automatic grenade launcher. Additional features include a laser warning suite and a driver's television system.

The Russians originally relied on wheeled reconnaissance vehicles of the BRDM scout car family, some of which have been modified by Poland with mast-mounted sensor systems. But in the 1970s, the former Soviet Army migrated to tracked chassis initially based upon the BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle. This led to the PRP series of vehicles with 'Small Fred' (PRP-3) or 'Tall Mike' (PRP-4) battlefield surveillance radars, supplemented, in the case of the latter, by improved electro-optical sensor packages; including thermal imagers.

This concept has been further developed with the Kurgan Boevaya Razvedyvatnaya Mashina (BRM) Rys (Lynx), also known as BMP-3K, based upon the BMP-3 infantry combat vehicle. The 19-tonne vehicle is unusual in having a six-man crew compared with the usual three or four in most reconnaissance vehicles. It features 'Tall Mike' (1RL33-1) radar and an electro-optical package similar to that used in the PRP-4. The armament is changed to a 30 mm dual-role (anti-vehicle/anti-helicopter) gun. Unusually the radio aerials can be extended on elevating masts allowing the UHF radio to transmit up to 40 kilometres and the HF radio to 250.

Both armoured personnel carriers and infantry combat vehicles are frequently used in the reconnaissance role in their original configuration as well as modifications. The United Defense LP M-3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle is almost identical in appearance with the M-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle but has a five-man crew which includes two men who can act as dismounted scouts. Both are amphibious and armed with a 25 mm Bushmaster gun, which may be supplemented by Tow anti-armour missiles, although experiments have been conducted with the 35 mm Bushmaster and 40 mm Case Telescoped Ammunition weapons.

The M-3 has been officially described by a senior US Army officer as a substandard reconnaissance vehicle due to its size and the fact that it is so noisy it can be heard at distances up to 15 kilometres. Alvis Vickers has also examined the use of an infantry fighting vehicle, the Warrior, in the reconnaissance role and had developed a version of the Desert Warrior which could operate autonomously for 72 hours. It featured a multi-spectral surveillance package on an extendable mast but did not find customers.

The British and US Armies did consider in the late 1990s a highly sophisticated reconnaissance vehicle known to the former as the Tactical Reconnaissance Armoured Combat Equipment Requirement (Tracer) and to the latter as the Future Scout Cavalry System (FSCS). This was to be a tracked vehicle incorporating hybrid electric drives and vehicle electronics, with a 35 mm or 40 mm gun and a multi-spectral sensor pod on an extendable mast. It was to interface with headquarters and airborne sensors including airborne ground surveillance and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms and act as a node in a digitised communication system.

The programme's sophistication pushed up the estimated costs and the US Army eventually decided to withdraw when the demonstrator stage was complete. But Tracer is influencing the successor programmes, the British Future Rapid Effects System (Fres) and the American FCS in terms not only of applied technology but also of reconnaissance. Reconnaissance vehicles will certainly be a key element of network-centric operations, for digitised communications will allow sensor-data processing to record targets and images on digital maps that may then be automatically relayed to command posts and headquarters.

They will therefore need to interface both with on-board and remote sensors. Multi-spectral (radar and electro-optical) packages will be essential and these may not only be mounted in the vehicle on extendable masts but available for off-board deployment for covert surveillance and observation. The vehicles themselves will obviously need to have lower infrared, visual and audio signatures to support these functions.

Interfacing with airborne platforms is desirable and these will range from ground surveillance radar aircraft such as the E-8A, through helicopters with milli-metric radar and electro-optic sensors to drones usually with electro-optic sensors. With soldier systems increasingly being developed it is likely that the vehicles will also interface with them in some fashion, but this will put great demands upon headquarters to filter information to provide commanders with a total view of the situation rather than a mere 'soldier's eye' view.

Both the Fres and FCS are intended to have reconnaissance platforms, and one of the 15 or so Fres variants is to be a reconnaissance and ground surveillance vehicle that might incorporate engineer reconnaissance and a dismounted scout capability. Within the FCS, which is being integrated by Boeing and Science Applications International (SAIC), each brigade-size 'unit of action' is to have some 25 reconnaissance and surveillance vehicles with both long-wave and mid-wave thermal imagers, a day/night television, a laser rangefinder and battlefield surveillance radar on a mast which will elevate up to five metres.

It is also anticipated that each unit of action will also include 60 to 65 armed robotic vehicles each weighing about six tonnes and carrying sensors on a mast which will elevates to two metres. The robots will be equipped for semi-autonomous navigation and mission-equipment operation and will include a 30 or 35 mm gun. It might also carry an unattended ground sensor dispenser. Robotics technology will certainly be a high technical risk feature of the programme and it is likely that the man-in-the-loop will be retained, especially for firing solutions.

The French Army, through Giat, is developing a similar combat vehicle system as the Engin Blinde a Roues de Contact (EBRC) which, despite its name of 'Wheeled Armoured Fighting System' is also examining tracked solutions. In reconnaissance units this is intended to replace the AMX-10RC and the Sagaie. In many respects it is the French equivalent of the FCS acting as the mother platform and with control of aerial ground robotic assets, but the prime role will be reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in conventional and urban warfare. It will certainly be armed with a 40 mm CTA International Case Telescoped Weapon System which will fire heavier shells with programmable fuzes making them more effective against troops in the open.

The reconnaissance vehicle may well be entering a new age but the variety of platforms, from lightly armoured scout car to sophisticated network-centric warfare node, must not be allowed to overshadow the fact that their prime function is to acquire information for the battlefield commander.