FV432 30mm RCWS - British APC with 30mm Autocannon, Spikes, and ERA

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FV432 30mm

An iconic British APC upgunned with a 30mm Remote Control Weapons Station (RCWS) and Spikes

Introduction

The FV432 was/is a key vehicle in the British Army’s FV430 series, originally produced by GKN, with over 3,000 units built by 1971. It primarily served as an armoured personnel carrier (APC) but has been adapted for various roles such as command posts, mortar carriers, ambulances and wombat carrying.

Despite being largely replaced in its original role by more modern and better-protected infantry vehicles, the FV432 has remained in service, largely due to its versatility. However, by the early 2000s, the vehicle’s performance and reliability had begun to decline, prompting a major upgrade program. Having been designed in the 50s and constructed in the 60s, the FV432 was never intended to see service well into the 20th century. But with the UK being involved in numerous deployments across Europe and the Middle East in the 90s and early 2000s, the fleet of APCs and IFVs was being stretched thin, and it became necessary to look to some older vehicles to fill gaps in the inventory.

In 2004/2005, the DLO (Defence Logistic Organisation) announced a contract of £80 million to update 500 vehicles of the existing fleet. This contract aimed to upgrade the engine to a 250hp Cummins diesel, the transmission to a Allison X200-4C, and generally overhaul the electrics, braking, and cooling. To nobodies suprise, BAE Systems won the contract, and pre-production vehicles were complete in 2005 and underwent extensive testing.

In a parallel development to these upgrades (not on top of them), during DSEi 2005 (a military exhibition in London), a significantly upgraded FV432 was displayed, outfitted with a Rafael 30mm Remote Control Weapon Station (RCWS), twin Spike launcher, and Rafaels ‘insensitive ERA’. The demonstrator represented a combination of cutting edge weapons stations and protection on a frankly archaic hull. This demonstrator was moderately successful, with the final upgrade of the FV432 ‘Bulldog’ (that remains in service today) featuring a cut-down 12.7mm RCWS and ERA, but the development of the 30mm system on the FV432 was not taken any further.

Specifications

Spoiler

Chassis - FV432

image

The above specifications are for the base FV432. The FV432 30 will be significantly heavier (+1500kg for the turret and an unknown amount for the ERA) and have 1 or 2 more crew (operator and maybe loader for the RCWS.

With an already fairly underpowered engine, this means the FV432 30 will be lacklustre in the mobility department, to put it nicely.

RCWS - Samson 30

Samson - RCWS 30

Images

Spoiler

FV432 30mm

FV432 30mm 3

FV432 30mm 2

Sources

Spoiler

Samson 30mm RCWS Export Brochure (available here)

JIDR 2005-11 p.19 (available here)

JIDR 2006-02 p.24 (available here)

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | More upgraded Armoured Personnel Carriers for the Army

Army Guide

7 Likes
2

Like a British Namer 30.

1 Like
3

+1 yes gladly, also I can’t wait to read “please nerf the thing to OP” because it’s UK.

3 Likes
4

no thank you, it’s ugly (most important thing arguably), it has too good armament for the plateform mounting it, and would just be extremely frustrating both to play and to face, being either overbred or under bred.

1 Like
5

More like british M113A3 RCWS-30 :)

image

1 Like
6

Not exactly, it isn’t built on an MBT hull with composite. FV432s hull is 1/2" steel at best, plus the ASPRO-H ERA on top.

Best thing about it would be the tall unmanned turret allowing for hull down fire with all crew protected.

7

After further investigation, it was found out that this vehicle was demonstrated by Rafael and by the suggestion itself it does not have any ties to a company in UK so I will be moving to the Israel Ground Force Section.

If you believe we are mistaken please feel free to provide us evidence that a UK based company was involved in this vehicle directly.

4 Likes
8

😂

Its a British Army vehicle

image

1 Like
9

This was an upgrade package that was being pitched directly by Rafael. The one you showed is not the exact same as the one being suggested as there is no turret.

1 Like
10

Israel or UK, I’d like to play this vehicle. Heck, it could be added to both. +1

11

How did Rafael get an FV432 to upgrade in the first place? That would certainly require some direct involvement from the British MOD or the British company that manufactures it. It is also a british designed and built vehicle, upgraded with the aim of fulfilling/competing for a british contract, so even though the upgrade was performed purely by a foreign company, surely the fact that the base vehicle was designed and built in Britain and the whole point of the upgrade was to compete for a British contract gives it enough reason to be feasable to come to the British tree, if not as well as the Israeli tree? With this precident, is it not allowed to suggest a single vehicle for multiple trees in different suggestions?

12

You can buy FV432s on the internet.

1 Like
13

How is this any different from the Rheinmetall Challenger 130mm?

One country has a claim to the vehicle because they built the chassis it is based on, another country has a claim to the vehicle because a company from that country built an upgrade package. Hence two valid suggestions for each nation

British Suggestion

German Suggestion

Now if someone wants to make a suggestion for this vehicle to go to Israel, they are welcome too. I’ve done 90% of the work for them, they can use my images and sources if they wish.

But if this vehicle remains in the Israeli ground forces section, I will be requesting that it gets deleted. This suggestion was for a British vehicle, provided by the British army, competing for a British MoD contract, on display at a British defence expo, that had a weapon station and armour package installed by an Israeli company.

14

Also, this is a British Army Number plate, used on vehicles owned and/or operated by the British Army

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15

As below:

16

Could be argued either way.

Challenger 2s are not available for private purchase, FV432s are. They could have just bought a BMP-1, would that make it a Soviet tree vehicle?

That said, while not an official MoD project it is built on a UK chassis by a private company and has no ties at all to the IDF.

1 Like
17

Ahem

Chally 1 but still

18

Well realistically when it is even slightly up in the air Gaijin can and should add vehicles where they are needed, so the debate about where different things should go is fairly pointless when there are different arguments based in reality like this, however if there was a modernised BMP-1 that was done by a private company in america then yes it would go in the Soviet tree imo. What im more interested in is this in terms of suggestion making, are you only allowed to suggest any given vehicle for a single tree in a single post, so if the suggestion was for this to come to the british tree, would there have to be another suggestion made? Or are you just not allowed to suggest this vehicle to come to the british tree at all? This just seems like more nonsensical suggestion rules that just make it harder for people to make suggestions about the things they are passionate about.

19

This is a prototype without Chobham armour, which is the reason why Challenger 1 and 2 are not for public sale.

Its sister ATR-2 is the one at the Tank Museum’s front door, neither Shir nor Chally, but something inbetween…

20

As always the company has the final say. The suggestion was for the British Tree, and Thatz as a representative of the Suggestion team has changed it to Israel, and doesn’t have to explain the reasoning behind it. The lack of transparency can be extremely frustrating.

It can be debated ad infinitum, the only option that always remains to the player is to delete his own Suggestion.