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The Highest Priority Programme Within the British Army
FRES (Future Rapid Effects System) is the highest priority programme within the British Army. With an estimated value of £13 billion (the whole life cost is estimated at £50 billion), it will provide a series of medium weight armoured vehicles to the UK Armed Forces.
The FRES programme comprises five families of vehicles, with a total of at least 16 variants and more than 3,700 vehicles. The five families are: Utility; Reconnaissance; Medium Armour; Manoeuvre Support; and, Basic Capability Utility Vehicles.
It is expected that the Utility Vehicles will be wheeled and the reconnaissance and heavier vehicles will be predominantly tracked. It is thought that the Utility Vehicles segment will comprise a total of about 2,200 vehicles, i.e. 60% of the FRES platforms, and will represent 50% of the programme costs. They will be wheeled 8x8 vehicles in the 25 to 30 ton class.
The specialist fleets of FRES vehicles, i.e. Reconnaissance, Medium Armour and Manoeuvre Support, will probably comprise a total of 1,500 vehicles representing 40% of the FRES platforms, and 50% of the costs. The reconnaissance vehicles are likely to be tracked vehicles in the 20 to 25 tonnes class and the fires, and manoeuvre support vehicles are likely to be tracked vehicles in the 30 to 40 tonnes class. The Basic Capability Utility Vehicles will be procured separately to fulfil utility roles that do not require a the full FRES Utility capability.
The MOD does not release target dates for Main Gate approvals before the main investment decision is taken, but the vehicles are expected to enter service from 2012 and the 15 to 20-year production phase to cover the period 2010 to 2025 or 2030.
The complexity of the FRES fleet will be far greater than previous generations of armoured fighting vehicles. The design of FRES' system architecture has to allow future capability up-grades from a choice of vendors and therefore has to be vendor-independent. The affordability and through-life costs will be highly dependent on maintainability and upgradability to meet future threats and missions over an expected service life of several decades. Additionally the vehicles will operate in a range of harsh environments. The vehicles will be fitted with advanced protection including...