FV432

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FV432 in Iraq, 2003
FV432
General characteristics
Crew 2 + 10 troops
Length 5.25 m
Width 2.8 m
Height 2.28 m
Weight 15.3 t
Armour and armament
Armour 12.7 mm max
Main armament 7.62 mm L7 GPMG
Secondary armament smoke dischargers
Mobility
Power plant Rolls-Royce K60 multi-fuel
240 hp
Suspension torsion-bar, 5 road wheel
Road speed 52 km/h
Power/weight 15.7 hp/tonne
Range 580 km

The FV432 is the armoured personnel carrier variant of the British Army's FV430 series of armoured fighting vehicles. Since its introduction in the 1960s it has been the most common variant used for transporting infantry on the battlefield. In the 1980s, almost 2,500 vehicles were in use, with around 1,500 still in operation - mostly in supporting arms rather than front-line infantry service.

Although the FV432 Series was going to be phased out of service while replaced by newer vehicles such as the Warrior and the CVR(T) series, they are now gradually being upgraded to extend their service through into the next decade.

In light of the army's need for additional armoured vehicles in the Afghan and Iraqi theatres, the Ministry of Defence announced in August 2006 that an extra 70 vehicles would be upgraded by BAE Systems in addition to 54 already ordered as part of their force protection initiative. The improvements take the form of an engine upgrade, new steering unit, and new braking system as well as improving armour protection to a level similar to that of the Warrior. The concept is that these FV430s will free up the Warrior vehicles for reserve firepower status and/or rotation out of theatre. The Updated version is to be called the "Bulldog".

Contents

[edit] History

The FV432 was designed to be the armoured personnel carrier in the FV430 series. Production started in 1962 by GKN Sankey and ended in 1971 giving approximately three thousand vehicles.

The FV432 is an all steel construction. The FV432 chassis is a conventional tracked design with the engine at the front and the driving position to the right. Directly behind the driver position is the vehicle commander's hatch. There is a large split-hatch round opening in the passenger compartment roof and a side-hinged door in the rear for loading and unloading. In common with such an old design there are no firing ports for the troops carried - British Army doctrine has always been to dismount from vehicles to fight. The passenger compartment has five seats either side - these fold up to provide a flat cargo space.

Wading screens were fitted as standard, and the vehicle has a water speed of about 6 km/h when converted for swimming.

The FV432 with regular regiments is equipped with a pintle-mounted L7 GPMG, vehicles with the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and Royal Signals had the Bren gun, they now subsequently also use the L7 GPMG. There are two three-barrel smoke dischargers at the front.

A number of surplus vehicles were sold to the Indian Army after being withdrawn from British service. Five others have since been converted by a company in Leicestershire for use in Tank Paintball.

[edit] Variants

A privately owned FV432 in a carnival procession.
A privately owned FV432 in a carnival procession.
The new Bulldog variant
The new Bulldog variant

The FV432 has been produced in 2 major variants, the Mark 1 (with a Mark 1/1 sub-mark) with petrol engines and Mark 2 with the multi-fuel engine. The submark 2/2 variant has its NBC pack flush with the hull side.

The FV432 has proven to be flexible in use and can be converted from one role to another with reasonable ease using 'installation kits' (IK) or more permanently with minor modifications to the hull. Major or more significant modifications have usually led to a new FV43n number. In addition to the normal armoured personnel carrier role, it has been used as:

  • a command vehicle (with an additional canvas "penthouse")
  • an ambulance, with four stretcher places
  • a cargo carrier, for up to 3,600 kg
  • a recovery vehicle, with internally-mounted winch
  • a communications vehicle

all these still being under the FV432 designation.

FV432s used by combat infantry units have also been equipped with:

FV432s used by the Royal Artillery have been equipped with:

  • a battery command post with FACE fire control computer
  • a battery command post with BATES battlefield artillery target engagement system
  • Cymbeline mortar-locating radar
  • sound ranging equipment
  • observation post vehicle ZB 298 radar

FV432s used by the Royal Engineers have been equipped with:

  • a towed layer for anti-tank Bar Mines
  • a launcher for Ranger anti-personnel mines
  • a towed Giant Viper mine-clearing system

[edit] Bulldog

Due to the poor protection offered by the Land Rover Wolf in Iraq and the need to upgrade the FV432 in many types of unit elsewhere the MOD signed an £85m contract with BAE Land Systems to update over a 1000 FV 432 in army reserves. Major changes include a new Diesel engine, new brakes, air-conditioning, enhanced reactive armour and IED jammers. The first 500 of the batch were handed over to the British Army in December 2006.

[edit] See also

  • M113 - a visually similar American-built armoured personnel carrier

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Modern (post WW2) UK armoured fighting vehicles
Wheeled vehicles
Ferret Scout Car | Fox Reconnaissance Vehicle | Saladin Armoured Car | Saracen APC
FV1611 "Pig" | Saxon | Mastiff PPV
Armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles
FV432 | Warrior | FV103 Spartan | Stormer | FV104 Samaritan | FV105 Sultan
Light tanks and anti-tank vehicles
FV101 Scorpion | FV107 Scimitar | Sabre | FV102 Striker | FV438 Swingfire
Self-propelled artillery
FV433 Abbot | AS-90
Main battle tanks
Centurion | Conqueror | Chieftain | Challenger 1 | Challenger 2
UK unarmoured or non-fighting vehicles
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