design provisionally selected for the FRES Utility Vehicle contract was the Mowag Piranha V, manufactured by General Dynamics. This decision had been expected, with speculation from February 2008 onwards that General Dynamics was the preferred contractor for the deal. However, as no production order was announced, various sources "feared that the FRES programme had fallen victim to the UK defence "budget crunch". This was borne out in December 2008, when General Dynamics' status as preferred contractor for the Utility Vehicle contract was officially rescinded. Demise of FRES as a programme After General Dynamics had its preferred bidder status for UV withdrawn in December 2008, the Ministry of Defence decided to restructure the programme. The utility vehicle programme was scheduled to restart towards the end of 2010. The UK MoD's Defence Equipment and Support agency has focused its attention on the tracked variants of the FRES programme; most notably the Specialist Vehicle. The FRES Integrated Project Team (based at MoD Abbey Wood) has disbanded, and the SV has been joined with the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP) in a new procurement team named Medium Armoured Tracks Team (MATT). The two programmes share the Common Cannon and Ammunition Programme, whereby a new 40mm Cannon from CTAI will be the main armament to both the upgraded Warriors and the new Specialist Vehicle. With the demise of the UV procurement, the supporting roles of SOSI and VI were no longer required, and were not pursued as part of the overall procurement scheme. FRES as an overarching programme effectively no longer exists, with future UV and SV projects being separate armored vehicle procurements. Future Utility Vehicle In February 2014, France agreed to lend a few VBCIs to the British Army for testing. French military sources report that the British Army is interested in purchasing the vehicle. The French Ministry of Defense has indicated that the French Army may purchase the British Watchkeeper WK450 unmanned aerial vehicle if the British Army buys the VBCI. The British Army is testing the VBCI as part of the future utility vehicle programme, intended to start replacing the current fleet of protected mobility vehicles by 2022. FRES UV has now been renamed as the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle programme. Specialist Vehicle SCOUT SV The Specialist Vehicles (SV) procurement will provide a range of vehicles including reconnaissance, engineering and battlefield medical variants, based on a tracked chassis. The CV90, offered by BAE