ASCOD

This article is about the armored fighting vehicle. For the African Paralympic committee, see African Sports Confederation of Disabled.
ASCOD Ulan/Pizarro

Spanish Pizarro in Madrid, 2006.
Type Armoured fighting vehicle
Place of origin Spain/Austria
Specifications
Weight 28 tonnes (30.9 short tons)
Length 6.83 m (22 ft)
Width 3.64 m (12 ft)
Height 2.43 m (8 ft)
Crew 3 + 8 passengers
Main
armament
 30 mm Mauser MK 30-2
Secondary
armament
 MG3 7.62 mm (Pizarro)
MG74 7.62 mm (Ulan)
Engine Diesel
600 hp (Pizarro)
720 hp (Ulan)
Suspension torsion bar
Speed Road: 72 km/h

The ASCOD (Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development) armoured fighting vehicle family is the product of a cooperation agreement between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (in 1998 the production of heavy armed vehicles was sold out under the name Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug, which is now the producer) and Spanish General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas (both companies are now divisions of a unit of General Dynamics). The ASCOD family includes the LT 105, a light tank equipped with a 105 mm gun, a SAM launcher, an anti-tank missile launcher, mortar carrier, R&R vehicle, Command & Control vehicle, ambulance, artillery observer, and the AIFV model. In Spanish service the vehicle is called Pizarro, while the Austrian version is called Ulan.

Development history

The ASCOD was designed to replace the older light armoured fighting vehicles of the Austrian and Spanish armies, such as the M113 armored personnel carrier. The Ulan, the Austrian version of the Pizarro, would provide a flexible complement to their heavy Leopard 2A4. The Ulan would allow the Austrian army to deploy rapidly and effectively over longer distances, especially for foreseeable future operations—such as troubled spots for UN operations.[1] The first prototype of the ASCOD IFV was ready and tested by 1992 and production was possible only four years later.[2] The ASCOD was a very modern solution to bring both the Austrian and Spanish armour up to date. To put this into perspective, the Pizarro project was a part of the greater Project CORAZA (Project Armour) which was to replace Spain's M113 APCs, M60A3s, and M110 artillery pieces.[3] A similar upgrade program was also concurrently underway in Austria. By 2005 the Austrian army was equipped with 112 Ulan vehicles[1] and Spain with 144 (123 IFV and 21 C2V).[4] In 2004 the Spanish Ministry of Defence ordered another 212 Pizarros (170 IFV, 5 C2V, 28 Artillery observation, 8 recovery, 1 Engineering vehicle) for 707.5 million Euros,[5] with up to 356 units total planned.[6] By 2010 the cost of this second batch had increased to €845m.[7]

The ASCOD mounts a 30 mm Mauser cannon in a fully traversable electro-mechanical turret. The 30 mm cannon, stabilized on two planes, is able to fire on the move at a rate of up to 800 rounds per minute. It also carries a 7.62 mm machine gun as a secondary armament, carrying up to 205 rounds for the 30 mm gun and 700 for the 7.62 mm machine gun. This armament is comparable to that of the M2 Bradley and the CV90, and performed well in a Norwegian vehicles trial, although it ultimately lost to the Swedish CV90. The gun uses the Mk-10 fire control system from Indra, which has a full solution digital ballistic computer, day channel, thermal channel and laser rangefinder. Future versions of the Mk-10 will be fitted with a new VC2 thermal imager.[6] The ASCOD Pizarro is also very well armoured, with a thick steel armour casing protected against up to 14.5 mm bullets at 500 meters,[8] with all around protection against 7.62 mm ammunition.[6] Furthermore, the turret has two grenade launchers on either side to fire smoke grenades. The Pizarro is also fitted with limited amounts of SABBLIR reactive armour and might be upgraded with more later.[2] However, with appliqué steel plates fitted it can be protected against 30 mm armour-piercing discarding sabots (APDS).[8]

Additional ballistic protection is available against up to 30 mm APFDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot) rounds fired from a 1,000 m range over the forward 60° arc, and all round protection against 14.5mm armour piercing incendiary (API) rounds from a range of 500 m. In terms of mobility, the Spanish Pizarro is fitted with a 600 horsepower (450 kW) engine, while the Austrian Ulan includes a 720 horsepower (540 kW) engine. The smaller Spanish engine gives it a power-to-weight ratio of 21, and the larger engine one of 25, offering both vehicles excellent mobility. Both versions use a Renk HSWL 106C hydro-mechanical transmission, and torsion bar suspension.[6] The Pizarro can go a maximum speed of 70 km/h, and a maximum reverse speed of 35 km/h.[2]

Austrian Ulan.

Currently Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge is developing an improved version called Ulan 2, which features the Russian BMP-3 turret and additional armour.[9]

In June 2008, GDELS, in conjunction with KMW, announced Donar, a medium-weight 155 mm self-propelled artillery system based on the KMW PzH 2000 artillery system integrated with the ASCOD 2 chassis. A prototype has begun mobility and firing trials in Germany.[10]

Deployment History

ASCOD entered service with the Spanish and Austrian armies in 2002.[6] The British army is to receive the first ASCOD SV in 2020.[11]

To date, the ASCOD has not seen combat.

Variants

ASCOD Pizarro

ASCOD Pizarro is built by Santa Bárbara Sistemas. It has multiple variants:[2]

ASCOD Ulan

ASCOD Ulan is built by Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge. It includes a more powerful 530 kW engine, and a different fire control system built by Kollsman.[6]

ASCOD SV

Main article: Scout SV

ASCOD SV (also called the ASCOD 2 SV) is the ASCOD variant chosen for the British Army’s Specialist Vehicle Programme, and will be built by General Dynamics UK.[13][14] The overall program has three blocks. The first, Recce Block 1 comprises four variants:[15]

These vehicles are the replacements for CVR(T) family vehicles: FV107 Scimitar (armoured reconnaissance), FV103 Spartan (specialist personnel carrier) and FV106 Samson (recovery vehicle).

Recce Block 2 is expected to include ambulance, engineer reconnaissance and command & control replacements for CVR(T) FV104 Samaritan (armoured ambulance) and FV105 Sultan (command vehicle)

The ASCOD SV is planned to include the following upgrades:[16]

The vehicle normal combat weight is 34 tonnes.

Users

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Quod Vadis Armour?
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Santa Bárbara Sistemas website on ASCOD
  3. ↑ Candil, pg. 42
  4. ↑ Principales Programas de Armamento de DGAM
  5. ↑ Ministry of Defence
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Army Technology website on ASCOD
  7. ↑ Ministerio de Defensa (September 2011). "Evaluación de los Programas Especiales de Armamento (PEAs)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Madrid: Grupo Atenea. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Article (in Spanish) on Revistanaval.com
  9. ↑ Military Today website on the Ulan
  10. ↑ General Dynamics European Land Systems Press Release
  11. ↑ http://www.janes.com/article/42735/update-uk-places-gbp3-5-billion-scout-sv-order
  12. ↑ LMT 105, ZA: Denel Land Systems.
  13. ↑ Defense news Britain to buy GD UK Vehicles http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4549171&c=EUR&s=LAN Britain to buy GD UK Vehicles Missing or empty |title= (help).
  14. ↑ General Dynamics UK team awarded contract to deliver Specialist Vehicle for British Army, UK.
  15. ↑ {{Citation = http://www.generaldynamics.uk.com/scoutsv/media.html | publisher =General Dynamics | title =Scout SV Media}}.
  16. ↑ ASCOD 2 data, Army Recognition.
  17. ↑ http://www.janes.com/article/42735/update-uk-places-gbp3-5-billion-scout-sv-order

References

External links