Sunday, September 20, 2015

PA to demonstrate .50 caliber RCWS

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 20): PA to demonstrate .50 caliber RCWS

The Philippine Army (PA) will be testing before the media on Monday the .50 caliber-remote controlled weapons system (RCWS) of its six newly-acquired M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) in Capas, Tarlac.

Col. Benjamin Hao, PA spokesperson, said on Sunday the demonstration will take place at the rifle range of the Mechanized Infantry Division in Camp O'Donnell, Capas.

The six APCs were transported to Tarlac on July 8 after arriving in the Philippines last June 18.

They were part of the 28 APCs ordered from Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems Ltd. The contract, worth PhP 882 million, was signed on June 22, 2014.

Fourteen of the M-113s will be configured as fire support vehicles, four as infantry fighting vehicles, six as armored personnel carriers, another four as armored recovery units.

Upgrades include installation of 25mm unmanned turrets, 12.7mm (.50 caliber machine guns) RCWS, and fire control systems (FCS) for 90mm turrets.

The PA operates 343 AFVs (armored fighting vehicles) and APCs.

Around 85 percent of these AFVs are on green status (fully mission capable) while another 10 percent are on yellow status (undergoing repair) and five percent are on red (beyond repair).

A total of 150 AFVs are of the United Kingdom-built GKN "Simba," with the others consisting of US-designed V-150 and V-200 APCs, M-113s, Turkish-made ACV-300s and British Scorpion CVRTs.

These vehicles give the PA its armor capability and are organized into a 14-vehicle mechanized infantry companion for deployment with regular units.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=806095

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