IAV 2024: British Army outlines procurement plans for Land Mobility Pr…

The Nurol Makina Ejder Yalçın is one possible contender for the LMP that was displayed at IAV 2024. A UK subsidiary of the company was formed in 2023 to market the company's products to the UK. (Janes/Sonny Butterworth)

Details of the British Army's Land Mobility Programme (LMP), including the number of vehicles required and procurement timelines, were revealed at Defence iQ's International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference held in London from 22 to 25 January.

The LMP aims to simplify the British Army's armoured vehicle fleet by reducing the number of types of protected patrol and light utility vehicles in service from more than 10 types to three.

To achieve this, the British Army will outline a case for procuring three new families of vehicles: a Medium Protected Mobility vehicle, a Light Protected Mobility vehicle, and a Light Utility Platform. Each of these families will be expected to be compliant with Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) standards to allow continual spiral development throughout their service life. In accordance with the Land Industrial Strategy, at least 60% of the workshare for its constituent procurements will be expected to go to UK industry.

According to the British Army, about 1,600 Medium Protected Mobility vehicles will be needed to replace the Mastiff, Ridgeback, and Wolfhound mine-protected patrol vehicles scheduled to go out of service in 2028, as well as the Bulldog tracked armoured personnel carrier scheduled to go out of service in 2030, and the Stormer self-propelled short-range air-defence system scheduled to go out of service in 2026.