Appears that the British purchased a limited number of M113's direct from Israeli stocks. They were fitted with the Spike NLOS missile system. These tracks were used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The M113's have since been retired but the missile system is still in use, referred to as the Exactor in British service.

Would make for an interesting build...

Are there any pictures these vehicles in service?

This one is in Israeli service; but, you get the picture (pun intended):

A few more pics...







More on the "Exactor": http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/uk-complex-weapons/exactor/

14 to be exact. http://defence.pk/threads/british-spike-nlos-exa%D1%81tor-mk-1-2.328774/

Here's one belonging to the 39 Regiment Royal Artillery (Welsh Gunners), disbanded in February 2015 :



H.P.

Interesting that the seeker heads are in two different styles. Almost reminds me of the Maverick series of missiles, one was day only with a clear lens, another was imaging IR with the same type of opaque orange-ish color. Do they have two different types of Spike rounds?

Yeah Baby !!!

More on the topic from "HaAretz": http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.677691?v=A3EFAF926062DCBB4A181C7AC141DA17

39 Regiment RA disbandment video with real bits of Exactor inside !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHdCbAflH0

You can notice the IDF-style exhaust pipe and side rail...

H.P.

The IDF's preferred launch platform of the "Spike" NLOS is the "Pereh".

As mentionned in some aforementioned articles, the Royal Artillery also uses the towed variant of the Exactor :



H.P.

Manufacturer site :
http://www.rafael.co.il/Marketing/342-1000-en/Marketing.aspx

Was once allowed to "shoot" the SPIKE or MELLS simulator. Pretty interesting experience! Unfortunatly, the CLU is pretty hard to scratchbuild. Maybe this could be something for Yaroslav? Photos of the system are already on my HD.

I've never heard of the M113 in British service, can you get any pictures to support this? It would make an interesting vehicle... Maybe the system was experimented with on an FV432...

The 5th picture from above (in Frenchy's post) is one of those 14 ex-IDF M113's the British received...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIHdCbAflH0

WoW! Look at all the antennas on it! LOTS of radio! I sure wouldn't want to have to monitor all those freqs!! thought 3 different nets' was hard!

If you mean the Pereh pic, you're seeing 2 vehicles' antennas. There's another one behind, partly hidden in the smoke. See the 2nd curved thingy (guidance antenna?)?

UK did look at the 113 way back in the '60's but decided to go with 432 anyway. I'm sure I've seen a pic in a book of one with a UK ERM and UK lighting in a glossy paint scheme. My ageing brain tells me it might have been in the museum at Bovington at one time.

Exactor was a UOR for HERRICK, where we found that we didn't have the right fire support assets for the situation confronting us. In guided weapon terms, nothing between Javelin and MLRS. For the future, the guided weapon overwatch version of the new Scout family was deleted from the family a decade ago, along with the air defence variant to replace Stormer/HVM. The idea was that we'd have a 120 gun Medium Armour version firing guided projectiles - neither of which have happened either. Whether using Exactor will prompt a re-think in the light of HERRICK and possibly facing an enemy with heavy armour again remains to be seen. The trailer version would perhaps seem to be worth keeping for light forces like 3 Cdo and 16 Air Assault Bdes.

Didn't the British Army use M548 derivatives for tracked Rapier & resupply tracks for M110? That's quite a history of using M113 variants...

There is also the M669 Lance system which was again a modified M113.

You can even buy a 1:1 one





H.P.

What I find most interesting about the M113 picture showing the vehicle with a British crew and registration is the number sequence which is of the series last used in the 1990's. 00aa00, whereas the current system is ss00ss.

regards Jason

I meant M113 APC variants, rather than the several M548-based derivatives we did use. The APC was evaluated as an alternative to the 432 series then being developed. Lance was bought as a complete system, likewise the M107 and M110 with the M578 ARV and M548 for resupply. It always intruiged me that the Tracked Rapier was based on the 548, although the 432 was long out of production by then and there was logistic support available for the 548. Export potential might have been a consideration. I'm not aware that a Stormer platform was considered.

The ERM (Equipment Registration Mark) in the photo suggests issue before 2004, when the current AANNAA series was introduced. The UOR for Exactor was approved in 2007. So the ERM series is a mystery. In the days of the registration office at Chilwell staffed by human beings, manual manipulation (age-related, for example, as DVLA do) was possible - so this may have been the case here. Now all ERMs are issued by JAMES.

There was talk of cross-decking the Spike systems onto Warthog, but that vehicle is not now going to be retained in service. There are a lot of surplus Warriors not being upgraded, originally earmarked for the cancelled ABSV project to replace many 432 roles. And there is potential to reconsider the need for a Scout variant armed with ATGW as an eventual Striker replacement.

From what I call recall (!), tracked Rapier was a byproduct of the Iranian Revolution: built to Iranian specs, no longer wanted by the customer due to a re-ordering of their domestic affairs: impressed into the Royal Artillery.

The modified M113 is certainly the most interesting British Army vehicle I've seen in some time - the last being a 22 SAS Bushmaster in 2008.

Hi
Apologies but I have only just come upon this thread.
It's true that the British Army used the serial system from 00 BA 01 onwards from 1949 until 1994 when it was replaced by the new series from AA 01 AA onwards. The original series ended with 91 KL 76, but the KM series was reserved for vehicles and equipments of non-standard types procured other than by contract. The KM series remains in use to this day for this purpose. The issue of ERMs in the KM series to these M113s in keeping with this practice.

HTH.

Regards,

Robert Swan
Freelance Military Writers, UK