KMW Throws a Grizzly into the MPV Bear Pit

Grizzly concept

Countries like the USA and Britain are racing to field mine-protected vehicles, but some countries have been building them for a number of years now. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann’s (KMW) Dingo 2, with its v-hull capsule plus composite blast pan design, is a case in point. At 12.5t/ 30,000 pounds gross vehicle, weight, however, the Dingo is lighter than most of the American MRAP competition’s Class II JERRV squad vehicle offerings; it’s even lighter than a couple of the Class I MRUV patrol vehicle offerings. While the Dingo has been exported, North American marketing license holder Textron Land & Marine Systems chose to offer its own M1117 ICV vehicle for the USA’s MRAP program instead.

Now KMW has received an order from Germany’s BWB (Bundesamt fur Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung – Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement) defense procurement office to design and deliver a new, larger mine-resistant vehicle for the German Army as a complement to the Dingo. The first vehicle will be delivered as early as November 2007, and looks likely to strengthen KMW’s positioning within the growing global market for blast-resistant vehicles…

USA Orders 369 More M1117 ASVs

Convoy lead, Tikrit

Textron’s M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) was recently removed from the MRAP program after the vehicle reportedly failed some of the tests at Aberdeen. The stretched M1117 ICV(Infantry Carrier Vehicle) was one of the lightest vehicles in the competition, and its original 3-man, 12,500 GVW(Gross Vehicle Weight, total loaded capacity) version remains popular with military police (M1117 ASV) and artillery spotting teams (M1200 Armored Knight). They provide better mine and ballistics protection than the Hummer, coupled with an armored turret that offers both mounts for advanced sensors, and patrol vehicle firepower overmatch via a .50 cal machine gun and 40mm grenade machine gun combination. Once upon a time we would have simply called vehicles like this “armored cars,” but perhaps that’s too simple these days.