GROUND COMBAT UPDATE

@ The US Army has issued three contracts, each $4.37 million, to companies that will begin work on designing the new Common Missile (to replace both TOW and Hellfire). The companies are Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and a team including both Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

@ The British Army is still trying to find funding for its Future Rapid Effects System, which sounds suspiciously like an LAV-III armored car. The British want numerous variants (command, personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicle, mortar, air defense, assault gun, etc.) and may use the FRES program to procure a recon vehicle since they expect the joint scout vehicle project with the US to fail to produce anything the British Army would actually buy. The British want a vehicle that could grow into a heavy armor system able to replace Challenger and Warrior in 2025.--Stephen V Cole