Sweden’s FMV Orders for Weapon Stations

Sweden’s FMV has ordered 60 protected weapon stations from Australian firm W&E Platt to provide firepower and protection to vehicle gunners. The FMV contract is the fourth for the Platt MR550 Bi-Metal Ring Mount in as many years, which will equip the latest batch of RG32M 4x4 mine hardened patrol vehicles recently ordered from BAE Systems OMC South Africa for the Swedish Army. More than 100 Swedish RG32M vehicles are already equipped with MR550 series protected ring mounts, a number of which are known to have seen operational service in Afghanistan. It is not known if the latest batch of Swedish RG32M vehicles will also be deployed to Afghanistan. The MR550 Bi-Metal Ring Mount is the latest variant of the successful Platt MR550 Protected Ring Mount series, which has also been ordered by Brazil, where it has been installed on a dozen prototypes of the new Iveco VBTP 6x6 armoured personnel carrier. Tailored for wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles with a gross vehicle mass under 10 tonnes or larger vehicle designs sensitive to changes in centre-of-gravity, the MR550 Bi-Metal Ring Mount weighs less than 400kg and features a dual layer of spaced armour to save weight yet still provide high protection levels against improvised explosive device blast and kinetic threats from small arms fire and shell splinters. The spaced armour solution combines two different material types and provides upgradeable protection from STANAG Level 1 up to STANAG Level 3.