- Yes
- No
The father of the Ozelot
When the FAUN Kraka was nearing the end of its service life for the German Bundeswehr’s airborne units, the Army began looking into better, more suitable systems as its replacement. The system needed to provide mobility, protection against small arms fire and shrapnel as well as a low enough weight to be air transportable with ease in common NATO transport aircraft. Porsche was part of this competition however was not able to provide anything that interested the Bundeswehr. Rheinmetall however was a lot more successful. Of the candidates that appeared to compete in the military trials, the Wiesel was eventually chosen. Names aptly so because of its small size, agility (and imo near cute appearance).
The Wiesel was also preferred due to its ability to be integrated with a wide assortment of weapons. You can see many of them below in the testing tab. However, one of the most interesting ones to me, is the first prototype of the FlaRakPz Wiesel armed with two RBs-70 missiles, (which later was given a hybrid loadout of a RBs-70 and a Mistral).
This interests me so much because in many ways, this could have proven to be a vital asset in frontline air defence and presents high levels of countermeasure resistance.
However, as with the Bundeswehr’s choice, the Ozelot was armed with the Stinger SAM, and, seeing the capabilities of the Stinger, as well as weighing in the time required on target with the RBs-70 missile, it is not hard to understand why the Stinger was chosen. Especially with its LOAL and Datalink support capability, which, a Wiesel with the RBs-70 would not have had. I believe that is what they understood as well which is why they started integration of the Mistral.
Overall this vehicle would prove a bane for all Helicopters inside of 6km as it does not require a target lock but rather can simply launch its missiles at the press of a button (when using the RBs-70).
Testing
The Wiesel 1 was tested with a wide variety of weapon systems and even paved the way towards development of the Wiesel 2 for relatively heavier loads and field ambulance duties etc.
Some of the tests trials of different weapons on the Wiesel platform are shown below:
Technical Specifications
—Survivability—
Crew: 2 (Gunner/Loader/Commander + Driver)
Armour (front, sides, rear): 8mm, 8mm, 8mm
—Mobility—
Weight: 2.8t
Engine: Audi 2.1 L 5-cylinder in-line turbo-diesel
Power: ~87 hp
P/W: 31.07hp/t
Top speed: 70kmph
Suspension: Torsion bar
—Equipment—
Armament (configuration 1): 2 x RBs-70 SAMs (+ ~ 10-12 in storage)
Armament (configuration 2): 1 x RBs-70 SAM + 1 x Mistral SAM (+ ~ 10-12 of either mix in storage)
Stabiliser: Yes
IR search: No
IR Track: Yes
Extra info here
The Turret and optics system is the same as the one on the Ozelot (Wiesel 2) SAM SPAA as can be seen from the similarities.
Visual References
