Tracked armored personnel carrier G5
At the end of February at the international exhibition of armored vehicles International Armored Vehicles, the German company FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau presented the new tracked armored personnel carrier G5. This company is a former tank repair plant of the people's army of the GDR and specializes in the production and repair of armored vehicles from the 60-s of the 20-th century. Extensive experience with this type of technology allows for the modernization and development of new models of armored personnel carriers.
An armored personnel carrier is a combat tracked vehicle that is designed to transport personnel to the front line, increasing its mobility, security and armament on the battlefield when using nuclear weapons. weaponsas well as collaborating with others tanks in battle. As a rule, infantry fighting vehicles have differences from armored personnel carriers, which include better body armor and higher firepower, although armored personnel carriers are currently being developed that are located on the base of tanks, so the difference between the armored personnel carriers and tracked armored personnel carriers is almost invisible.
Tracked armored personnel carrier G5 was developed as a machine using special elements embedded in the construction of tracked vehicles, which increase the protective properties of land mines and mines. These elements have already found their use on modern wheeled vehicles such as MRAP. The main feature of the hull armored personnel carrier G5, is the bottom, inclined at a slight angle and reinforced armor plates. The use of this design allows to reduce the force of the explosion, scattering the shock wave on both sides of the body.
At the moment, the FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau company is thoroughly testing the created prototype demonstrator G5, the creation of which, according to unconfirmed reports, was financed by the German Ministry of Defense itself.
The G5 armored personnel carrier is presented as a machine with a modular design, which allows creating on this base a huge number of vehicles of various purposes and modifications with different levels of reservation. It is planned to create prototypes of several configuration options for a quick transition to their conveyor delivery in case of such need. High baseline levels of ballistic and anti-mine protection have been reported, although specific technical characteristics have not been disclosed.
The combat weight of the base machine is 25 tons, the troop compartment has a volume of 14,5 cubic meters. There is the possibility of taking on board up to 6,5 tons of load. It is mentioned that 12 can accommodate cars in itself, although in the presented prototype demonstrator there are places for two crew members, as well as eight landing places for the landing party, which are placed in explosion-proof seats. Large volume provides freedom for the paratroopers inside the armored personnel carrier, which will allow to take with them considerable size gadgets, it is also convenient to use the free space for transporting the wounded.
Tracked armored personnel carrier G5 is equipped with a diesel engine located in front, which develops horsepower 560 HP. and is able to develop the maximum allowable speed on the highway, which is 72 km / h with the current range of 600 km. The undercarriage is a new development of the FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau and has six rollers on board, grouped into two blocks of three rollers each. The rollers (and, apparently, some of the other elements of the chassis) are borrowed from the Leopard 1 tank. The suspension of the rollers is torsion, and hydraulic shock absorbers are installed on the suspension nodes. Also in the new model used rubber tracks from the US company Soucy Track. A characteristic feature of these rubber tracks is their soft, neat impact on the road surface and a very low noise effect. Because of these two factors in urban environments, it is much more profitable for them to use armored personnel carriers on rubber tracks. In the manufacture of tracks, modern materials are used, which allow to reduce the level of vibration of the equipment on rubber tracks by more than 80%. And this, in turn, reduces the wear of both the main units and special equipment units, which reduces maintenance costs.
It is worth noting that the strongly glazed driver's cab causes some confusion among the experts.
Representatives of the company FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau reported that the armies of two European countries are already showing interest in the G5 model. Previously, FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau was upgrading for most European countries (in particular, Denmark) tracked armored personnel carriers of the M113 model with the development of a new version of the capital upgrading of the M113 model with a significant increase in protection, which was designated as Denmark and Australia.
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