- Yes
- No
INTRODUCTION
The Daimler Ferret was a replacement for the Daimler Dingo and its contemporaries of WW2 vintage. A monumental 4409 were built and still serve all over the world in many forms. This post will talk about the Mk5.
VEHICLE HISTORY
The vast multitude of armoured and scout cars built for the Second World War were slated to be replaced and in 1947 a requirement was issued, Daimler won the contract, thanks in no small part to the success of the Daimler Dingo scout car. It was developed in 1949 and a prototype was produced in 1950 and they entered service two years later in 1952.
The Ferret shares many similarities with its predecessor the Dingo such as a H-form drive train which helps lower the height of the vehicle. It is fitted with a water cooled 4.26 litre Rolls-Royce B.60 petrol engine generating 130 bhp at 3750 rpm, the gear box is a 5-speed pre-selector gearbox with all gears available in reverse as well as forward. It can achieve a maximum speed of 58mph.
With its improved power-to-weight ratio and longer wheelbase it improves over the Dingo over broken ground in both speed and mobility.
A Mk2 varient added a .30 calibre Browning machine gun (later a GMPG) in a one-man traversable turret at the cost of one crew member and increasing the height of the vehicle. The Mk 3 Ferret introduced larger 11x20 inch wheels, it was intended to improve upon the turretless Mk1 Ferret but never went into production, a later Mk4 Ferret fitted bigger brakes, a flotation screen and the Mk3s bigger wheels.
Finally the Mk5 Ferret came around with all the improvements of the 3 and 4 with a new aluminium turret housing 4 Swingfire ATGMs and a GPMG. The spare wheel has been done away with and twin stowage boxes have been fitted and each has a circular door – presumably to facilitate water exclusion for wading operations.
ARMAMENT & ARMOUR
Unlike earlier models the Mk5 uses a 7.62 GPMG whereas the standard had been for a .30cal Browning machine gun to be used this is probably because it was planned to produce Mk5s in large numbers for collaborative use with NATO.
The large aluminium turret was produced to keep the weight of the vehicle down and gained the Mk5 the illustrious title of the first (partly) aluminium armoured vehicle in British service. The missiles are angled at a high degree when deployed to facilitate the missiles intended use by dismounting the vehicle with the control unit and firing at something not in line of sight to the launcher. I can’t find the armour statistics for the new turret but presumably it has the same equivalent thickness as the steel one.
The Swingfires will be the same as the ones already in-game with a minimum range of about 150m owing to the launch angle and as with all Ferrets there are six smoke dischargers at the front of the vehicle, three per side.
SPECIFICATIONS
| Crew | 2 |
|---|---|
| Weight | 3.7t |
| Length | 3.7m |
| Width | 1.91m |
| Height | 1.88m |
| Engine | Rolls-Royce B60 6L |
| Power | 130bhp @ 3750rpm |
| Top speed | 58mph |
| Armament(s) | 1 x 7.62 GPMG, 4 x Swingfire ATGMs |
| Ammunition | At least 3 boxes of 7.62, 2 spare Swingfires in separate boxes – one per side |
| Traverse | 360° |
| Reload | n/a |
| Hull armour | 6-16mm Steel |
| Turret armour | 6-16mm Steel thickness equivalent Aluminium alloy |
| Stabilizer | no |
| NVGs | no |
| Active defences | 6 x smoke dischargers |
SOURCES
