Sabre is a variation of the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), featuring the turret from a wheeled

Fox Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle The FV721 Fox Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Wheeled) (CVR(W)) was a 4 × 4 armoured car manufactured by ROF Leeds, deployed by the British Army as a replacement for the Ferret scout car and the Saladin armoured car. The Fox was introduced i ...

mounted on the hull of a tracked

FV101 Scorpion The FV101 Scorpion is a British armoured reconnaissance vehicle, and also a light tank. It was the lead vehicle and the fire support type in the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), CVR(T), family of seven armoured vehicles. Manufactured b ...

Development

This UK hybrid vehicle was introduced as a less expensive way of producing a similar vehicle to the 30mm cannon armed

FV107 Scimitar The FV107 Scimitar is an armoured tracked military reconnaissance vehicle (sometimes classed as a light tank) used by the British Army. It was manufactured by Alvis in Coventry. It is very similar to the FV101 Scorpion, but mounts a high-ve ...

tracked reconnaissance vehicle, but with a slightly lower profile turret. It was brought into service in 1995. During initial combat exercises, several flaws were identified. In particular, the vehicle lacked defensive capabilities. As such, modifications were made to the turret of the Sabre to include redesigned

smoke grenade Smoke grenades used at demonstrations in Paris, 2008 upBritish L83A1 Smoke Grenade manufactured in May 2008. This grenade has already been used. A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone mark ...

launchers and the

L94A1 L94A1 is the British Ministry of Defence designation for the long-barrelled version of the Hughes EX-34 7.62 mm chain gun, which is fitted to several British Army armoured fighting vehicles, including the Challenger 2 and the Warrior. A se ...

7.62 mm

chain gun A chain gun is a type of autocannon or machine gun that uses an external source of power to cycle the weapon's action, rather than diverting excess energy from the cartridges' propellant as in a typical automatic firearm, and does so via a c ...

replacing the standard 7.62 mm FN MAG

general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...

, for

anti-personnel An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicle ...

use. An

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

hopper sits on the side of the machine gun allowing the weapon to be more quickly reloaded than a belt-fed machine gun. The UK initiated the

Tactical Reconnaissance Armoured Combat Equipment Requirement The American Future Scout and Cavalry System (FSCS) and British Tactical Reconnaissance Armoured Combat Equipment Requirement (TRACER) were a joint U.S.–British reconnaissance vehicle program. The program was begun to replace the UK's Sabre and S ...

(TRACER) to replace the Sabre and

Scimitar A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different ...

. In 1996 the U.S. joined in on the project. In 2001, both the UK and U.S. dropped out of the joint program. The marriage of the Fox turret and Scorpion chassis was not successful, and Sabre was withdrawn from British Army service in 2004.

Additional specification

* Smoke grenade dischargers * Ammunition: **

30 mm 30 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. Such ammunition includes NATO standard 30×113mmB and 30×173mm (STANAG 4624), Soviet 30×155mmB, 30×165mm, and 30×210mmB, Yugoslav 30×192mm, Anglo-Swiss 30×170mm, and ...

: 160 rounds

Armour-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...

Enhanced Penetration (APEP) and

High Explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An e ...

(HE) ** 7.62 mm: 3,000 rounds

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Light tanks of the United Kingdom Post–Cold War tanks of the United Kingdom Reconnaissance vehicles of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s