Monday, June 14, 2010

AMPV unveiled?


via DefPro.
The German-based companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall have placed on display before the international audience gathering at Eurosatory 2010 one of the four prototypes of their newly developed family of armoured multipurpose vehicles (AMPV) in the 5.3 to 9.3-ton class. The vehicle, which has not been only developed for the Bundeswehr’s GFF/GTF project, having requested protected C4I and mission-specific vehicles as well as protected transport capacity, is designed taking into account the operational experiences made by the German armed forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
I guess this is the official unveiling because this vehicle has been up on KMW's website for at least a year or two.  Another 7 ton Humvee/JLTV/light weight MRAP/patrol vehicle.

We have too many of these already.  I don't really see much of a future in this segment.  One dirty little secret of the current conflicts is that Infantry operating on foot or out of larger vehicles like the MTVR are as effective as those operating in uparmored Humvee type vehicles.