Page 31 - Signal Winter 2018

| MOWAG MID-LIFE UPGRADE |
The MOWAG Maintenance and Mid-Life Upgrade Project
The Defence Forces has had a highly successful relationship with the MOWAG APC, in both its Infantry and Cavalry variants, since 2001. As part of this ongoing relationship, there is currently a project to maintain and upgrade the fleet of eighty vehicles. Included in this
is the 56-strong fleet of Infantry variant APCs including section, command, recovery and ambulance variants which are currently deployed at home and in active overseas service in both UNIFIL and UNDOF.
Signal spoke to Lt Col Matt Byrne from the Directorate of Ordnance, who is the Defence Forces Project Manager, and to Captain Paul Ryan from 1 Mechanised Infantry Company DFTC who is the Director of Infantry’s representative on the Project team, and who described the project from an end user and instructor perspective.
Mechanised Infantry Company personnel with technicians from Kongsberg and MOWAG at test shoot in the Glen of Imaal
Project Background
The White Paper on Defence maintains that “the Army will continue to retain all-arms conventional military capabilities. The principle aim over the period of the White Paper will be to replace and upgrade, as required, existing capabilities in order to retain a flexible response for a wide range of operational requirements, at home and overseas”. The MOWAG APC Programme has been in existence for over eighteen years and the Maintenance and Mid Life Upgrade is the current iteration of it.
The initial delivery of forty MOWAG APC vehicles known as the PIRANHA IIIH 8x8 in March 2002 was the culmination of the embryonic contract negotiations between MOWAG Switzerland
(now General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) - MOWAG) and Defence Forces and Department of Defence officials. The APC variant was fitted with the Helio UK (now Thales) turret and designated as the FVT 800I incorporating a 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) and a 7.62mm Co-Axial Machine Gun. As part of a second contract a further twenty-five APCs were delivered in 2004.
In 2007 nine vehicles fitted with the Norwegian Kongsberg Remote Weapon Station (RWS) and designated as Close Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) were delivered. Six Medium Reconnaissance Vehicles (MRV) fitted with an Oto Melara turret and 30mm cannon completed the third contract. These Cavalry Corps vehicles apart from additional firepower brought an extra
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