3 Commando Brigade

3CB vehicles - pre-release

I'm very pleased to annouce two pre-release additions to our 3CB BAF vehicles pack, the Panther command vehicle and the Panama remotely operated vehicle.






Both of these vehicles have been added to our 3CB repo for player testing and feedback. 

Mission designers and zeus, please make use of these, if at all possible, so we can gather some useful feedback.

Here are some notes for this pre-release.

Panther CLV
The Panther CLV (Command and Liaison Vehicle) is a protected patrol vehicle of the British Army in widespread use with various commanders, sergeant majors, and liaison officers of armoured recce, engineering, anti-tank, mortar and supporting fire platoons.

It's v-shaped hull and a collapsible sandwich structure in the floor deflect and absorb mine blasts, while the driver and crew of 3 are further protected by bullet proof windows, ballistic armour packs and anti-mine suspended seats.

Equipped with a Selex Enforcer RCWS weapons station, the 7.62mm L7 GPMG is remotely controlled by the gunners joystick and screen with day/night thermal sight.

The vehicle is packed with the British Army's latest BOWMAN communications suite – the Platform Battlefield Information System Application (PBISA) from General Dynamics UK and provides the highest level of situational awareness currently available.

Weighing 7-tonnes, the Panther is air transportable and can be under-slung beneath a Chinook helicopter.

In Game
The gunner has target tracking and ID within the narrow cone of the turret sensor, pointed using the mouse:
- Press ] to bring up and cycle through the panels until you get to SENS
- Press Alt ] to cycle through the sensor ranges
- Press RMB for optics view
- Press NumPad + and - to change zoom level
- Press N to toggle an IR view (thermal also available if enabled by mission designer - off by default)
- Press T when the cross hairs are on target to get target ID on the sensor
- Press F to switch the weapon from safe to live
- Press # to auto-range the weapon onto the cross hair position

To reload the GPMG the gunner needs to first turn-out and then press R to reload a magazine from vehicle inventory.

Credits: The base (work-in-progress) version of this vehicle was created by Burnes15th (Katie Byrne). Donated to 3CB with permission to modify and release. 


Panama ROV
The Panama ROV consists of a Snatch Land Rover modified for remote control operation, with a large piece of mine-detection equipment mounted to the front. It was created by Defence Equipment and Support, part of the Ministry of Defence, in conjunction with PA Consulting Group as a low-cost solution to mine detection in the war in Afghanistan. Before the introduction of the Panama, an average of one person every week was killed, with five or six more being severely injured.

The Panama vehicle is towed behind another vehicle – usually a Buffalo MRAP vehicle. It can be unhitched from the towing vehicle without the crew having to expose themselves, and remotely driven to search for explosive devices. A single system consists of two Panama vehicles and a control station. They usually work as part of a Talisman team, which consists of two Buffalo Rummage and four Mastiff 'Protected Eyes' vehicles; two micro unmanned air vehicles (MUAV); two HMEEs; and two Talon UGVs.

The vehicles are considerably cheaper than a bespoke solution, as they make use of the SN2A Snatch Land Rover, which was rendered obsolete due to poor armour protection. The military had approximately 200 of these vehicles awaiting disposal. The vehicle has been in use in Afghanistan since early 2011.

In Game
The vehicle is a drone. Placing a Blufor Panama will enable a player equipped with a UAV terminal to connect to it and then take control.
- top speed is 45mph, normal speed is 30mph, mine sweeping speed ('walk') is 5kph
- fold the radar boom up when driving in convoy

Mine sweeping is enabled when the radar boom is unfolded out in front:
- drive at slow speed (5kph).
- on detecting a mine you will initially hear an audible tone that intensifies, followed by a red dot appearing on the operator's "Mine Detector" sensor panel
- be aware that the ground penetrating radar has a very short range (5 - 8m) and that the radar boom will set off some mines if you don't stop in time!

The Panama is great at detecting mines over a relatively wide path, but it doesn't clear them. They need to be either marked, or disposed of manually, by the following clearance team.


Bulldog HMG RWS
This APC has had an update to it's Remote Weapon Station, adding the target tracking and identification system from the Panther CLV. Use the same key commands as outlined above.
The gunner needs to turn-out through his hatch to reload too.


Bug Reports
General feedback and bug reports are welcome. Your forum comments will be used to improve the vehicles before general public release in the next few weeks.
Have fun with the new toys!

Well done guys, awesome work always.

Looks great guys. Thanks for all the hard work. 

They look awesome! Looking forward to using them on hearts and minds

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
                                                   - George Carlin

These look absolutely phenomenal, I can't wait to use them for some OPs.

Thanks to the modding team!

Great work as always!

That Panama though, only the British...

even though it has already been said, you guys are amazing. keep it up!