Saab Trackfire RWS selected for Finnish Navy

Saab will equip Marine AlutechOyAB’s Watercat M18 AMC amphibious assault craft with the Trackfire Remote Weapon Station (RWS) for the Finnish Navy. The company announced the contract, which covers the delivery, support and training for 12 Trackfire RWS and an option for additional systems, on 21 December.

The Watercat M18 AMC’s will be delivered to the Finnish Navy in the time period 2014 to 2016. They will be armed with a dual weapon Trackfire RWS (mounting the 12.7mm NSV or alternatively the 40mm Grenade Machine Gun, as well as a coaxial PKM machine gun) and features a video tracker module, dual-command Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) and high performance sensor module.

Saab has developed the Trackfire as a ‘best of breed’ solution to meet the emergent requirements for mobility, protection and firepower, for land and naval applications.

Thomas Kloos, head of product area Command and Control Systems, Saab, said: ‘We are delighted to have been selected to provide the Trackfire RWS as an integral part of the Watercat M18 AMC solution. This further cements our position as a long-term provider of fire control solutions for our Finnish customer. Trackfire represents the next generation of high performance RWS; as adept on land vehicles as it is on naval vessels; and therefore we are confident on building on this success with additional orders from other users.’

The contract for the Finnish Navy is the second Trackfire contract, the first being awarded late 2011 by ATK for the integration of the LW25 Chain Gun with the US Government as the end user.