Modern militaries crawl towards electrification of the battlefield
Full electrification of their land and air vehicles may be beyond modern militaries for now. But how close are they to the tipping point of the widespread use of electric vehicles?
The UK MoD is expecting to award NSAF Ltd – the UK division of Heckler & Koch – an open supply contract for the procurement of additional infantry weapons worth up to £3 million.
Announcing the contract on 20 August, the MoD stated that the Soldier System Programmes office at DE&S will contract NSAF for an initial three years with options for a further two years.
The company could provide a selection of different weapons including rifles, less lethal launchers, grenade launchers, sub-machine guns, machine guns and grenade machine guns during this time.
A spokesperson from DE&S Soldier Systems confirmed
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Full electrification of their land and air vehicles may be beyond modern militaries for now. But how close are they to the tipping point of the widespread use of electric vehicles?
The contract follows news released in 2023 that a first customer had taken into service Pearson Engineering’s new Slice system enabling the interoperability of Front-End Equipment (FEE) between main battle tanks and dedicated engineering vehicles.
When compared to some other wheeled artillery systems Archer has the advantage of quicker deployment and relocation as the complete fire mission is carried out without the crew leaving the protected cab at the front.
The system had been previously proven to work against rotary and fixed-wing kamikaze drones, with Aselsan now working on new capabilities for Gökberk to counter UAV swarms.
Poland’s old Russian 122mm 2S1 self-propelled (SP) artillery system is being replaced by Krab and K9 SP artillery systems which both fire standard NATO 155mm ammunition.
EMOC can be fitted with an 81mm or a 120mm smooth bore barrel and when in the travelling position is horizontal. For firing, it is deployed over the rear arc until the baseplate contacts the ground.