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« Last post by Claymore on April 16, 2026, 08:29:28 PM »
So, the Saladin R turret issue (Scimitar-like v Fox) is solved. When the contract for the production run for the new FV721 Fox CVR(W) was being put to tender, it was more of less assumed that it would go to the Leyland Group, which comprised Jaguar/Daimler and Alvis. The design was theirs and they had produced the initial prototypes. Indeed, the contract for Alvis to mass produce the new turret had already been awarded - their design was loosely based on the Scimitar turret with a common weapon (30mm RARDEN) and sighting systems but in a new bulged square turret rather than the Scimitar's octagonal shape. At the same time as Jaguar/Daimler were submitting their tender for production of the hull, the Royal Ordinance Factory (ROF) in Leeds also submitted a bid which substantially undercut their competitor.
With no experience of producing wheeled armoured vehicles, the ROF bid was a political and financial gamble which, not surprisingly, didn’t pay off. The production FV721 Fox which entered service was beset with mechanical and stability problems that were never wholly rectified. Indeed, the only component that seemed to fully function as advertised, was Alvis’s turret.
With the CVR(T) production line in full flow, this perhaps explains why Alvis's Saladin R proposal offered the alternative Fox turret rather than the Scimitar's and might also have been influenced by an expectation that the FV721 Fox might even have been cancelled after a number of new turrets had already been produced.
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