- Yes (Tech Tree)
- Yes (Premium)
- Yes (Squadron)
- Yes (event)
- No
History:
As Romania entered the modern era, it seeked/is currently seeking to replace much of its old Soviet Era equipment, this can be evident by their 1.1 Billion dollar deal to purchase 54 M1 Abrams tanks from the US to finally begin gradually phasing their horribly outdated TR-85M1s out of active service, as a single example. And Romania was also seeking a more modern, and western replacement of its B33 Zimbru’s, which is basically a license built BTR-70.
One of these potential replacement options, would be a joint development venture between Germany company Rheinmetall, and Romanian company Uzina Automecanica Moreni, to design a state of the art amphibious 8x8 APC, combining features from the German Boxer, and Romanian Saur APC’s. Part of the deal was to have 400 units be built, and delivered to Romania by 2020 (with 6 variants making up that number), with Romania manufacturing, and assembling ~90% of the components to help get its armored vehicle industry back into shape. However unfortunately for Rheinmetall, the Mowag Piranha V designed by General Dynamics European Land Systems won the contract for Romania’s knew 8x8 APC, with Romania purchasing a total of ~377 Piranhas, with a decent percentage of them being licence built in Romania.
Description:
The Agilis 8x8 is fully amphibious, and large enough to carry 7 passengers (disinclining the crew). The turret which houses a 30mm autocannon very similar to if not the same seen on the PUMA IFV currently in game, is the LANCE Turret System, very similar to the one seen on the IFV variant of Rheinmetall’s Boxer, however unlike that variant, the Agilis lacks the independent commanders sight on the turret roof, this is because instead of the commander sitting in the turret alongside the gunner, the commander is instead positioned in the hull behind the driver. That being said, it is still possible that the commander could at least have the ability to see through the gunners sight, or even take over the gunner controls entirely if needed. The Agilis also lacks any roof mounted machine guns, unlike the Boxer.
The image above is are Boxer APC’s, I am showing these so you can hopefully spot the similarities (and differences) between both the Boxer, and Agilis weapons systems.
Interestingly, in 2014, a APC prototype was built in Romania, the prototype was very rough, as it was only built to test its effectiveness against mines/IED’s. The prototype, just being designated as Transportorul Blindat pentru Trupe 8x8, or TBT 8x8 for short (the Romanian translation for “Armored Personnel carrier”), was tested against 8kg of TNT explosives, and survived with minimal damage, and the dummy crew inside was unharmed, thus earning itself STANAG 4569 Level 3A under the Wheels, and 3B under the chassis. However due to the great success of this test, it was later decided to test its effectiveness against 10 kg of TNT explosives right after the first test, with roughly the same result, justifying its reclassification to STANAG 4569 Level 4A under the wheels, and 4B under the chassis. The reason I bring this up is because this prototype was likley assembled under the desired specifications the Romanian Military has for their desired new APC, which gives us a good idea as to the protection levels the Agilis may have been intended to possess.
Spoiler
Images above show the TBT 8x8 prototype undergoing anti-mine tests
Why it should be added:
I would like to start this section off by clarifying that I don’t think this should be a vehicle added to Germany, as the Boxer would be a much better option for them. I am making this suggestion under the assumption that a Romanian ground tech/sub-tech tree is added in the future, and if that is the case, then this would be a good addition to add to the nations 10.0 spot, serving as basically a wheeled PUMA which sacrifices armor for more mobility, as serving as a good way to boost the nations performance at that rank.
Specifications:
Size:
Length: 8.02 m
Width: 2.99 m
Height: 2.5 m
Ground Clearence: 0.43 m
Mass: Between 25-30 tons
Mobility:
Engine: 612 PS Liebherr R6
Speed: 100+ km/h (10 km/h in water)
Turn Radius: 9.5 m
Gradiant: 60%
Side Slope: 30%
Suspension: Independent Suspension
Armaments:
Turret: LANCE Turret System
Main Gun: 30mm Autocannon (150 rounds/minute)
Secondary: 7.62 coaxial machine gun (400 rounds per minute)
Protection:
STANAG 4569 Lever 4A under the wheels, 4B under the chassis, and level 4 all around protection
Crew:
3 (Driver, Commander, Gunner)
Photo Gallery:
Sources:
https://defencedb.com/profile_page.php?item_id=10
https://defencedb.com/article.php?article_id=17
http://presamil.ro/prima-etapa-pentru-transportorul-blindat-pentru-trupe-8x8/
http://presamil.ro/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Ziar-09.pdf
https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/products/turret-systems/turret-systems