FV430 series

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FV430
FV432 in Iraq, 2003
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Specifications
Weight	15.3 t
Length	5.25 m
Width	2.8 m
Height	2.28 m
Crew	2 minimum

Armor	12.7 mm max
Primary armament	7.62 mm L7 GPMG
Secondary armament	smoke dischargers
Engine	Rolls-Royce K60 multi-fuel 240 hp
Power/weight	15.7 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion-bar, 5 road wheel
Operational range	580 km
Speed	52 km/h

v • d • e Post WW2 British AFVs

Wheeled vehicles	Ferret Scout Car · Fox Reconnaissance Vehicle · Saladin Armoured Car · Saracen APC · FV1611 "Pig" · Saxon · Mastiff PPV

APCs and IFVs	FV432 · Warrior · FV103 Spartan · Stormer · FV104 Samaritan · FV105 Sultan · BvS10

Light tanks and anti-tank vehicles	FV 4101 Charioteer · FV301 · FV101 Scorpion · FV107 Scimitar · Sabre · FV102 Striker · FV438 Swingfire

Self-propelled artillery	FV433 Abbot · AS-90 · MLRS

Main battle tanks	Centurion · Conqueror · Chieftain · Challenger 1 · Challenger 2

UK unarmoured or non-fighting vehicles

The FV430 series covers a number of armoured fighting vehicles of the British Army, all built on the same chassis. The most common of the series is the FV432 armoured personnel carrier.

Although the FV430 series has been in service for a long time and some of the designs had been replaced in whole or part by vehicles such as those of the CVR(T) range or the Warrior, many have been retained and are receiving upgrades in the engine and control gear.

The FV430 chassis is a conventional tracked design with the engine at the front and the driving position to the right. The hatch for the vehicle commander is directly behind the drivers and a pintle mount next to it can take a machine gun. There is a side-hinged door in the rear for loading and unloading, and in most models a large split-hatch round opening in the passenger compartment roof. 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.

There is a wading screen as standard, and the vehicle has a water speed of about 6 km/h when converted for swimming.

FV430 vehicles, if armed, tend to have a pintle-mounted L7 GPMG, or a Bren gun. There are two three-barrel smoke dischargers at the front.

1 Vehicles
2 FV430 Mk3 Bulldog
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Vehicles

British Army nomenclature

FV431 Armoured load carrier - one prototype produced, Alvis Stalwart 6x6 vehicle selected instead for load carrier role.
FV432 Armoured Personnel Carrier
FV433 Field Artillery, Self-Propelled "Abbot" - 105 mm self propelled gun built by Vickers.
FV434 "Carrier, Maintenance, Full Tracked" - REME Maintenance carrier with hydraulically driven crane.
FV435 Wavell communications vehicle
FV436 Command and control - some fitted with Green Archer radar, later Cymbeline radar.
FV437 Pathfinder vehicle - based on FV432 with integral buoyancy and other waterjets - prototyped only.
FV438 Swingfire - Guided missile launcher.
FV439 Signals vehicle - Many variants.
FV430 Mk3 Bulldog - Upgraded troop carrier that began serving in Iraq in December 2006.

[edit] FV430 Mk3 Bulldog

Introduced in December 2006, the Bulldog was designed to meet an urgent operational requirement for extra armoured vehicles for use in counter-insurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. It features an applique reactive armour package designed by Israeli company Rafael capable of defeating hollow charge warheads such as the RPG-7 rockets used by insurgents.^[1] A new engine and steering gear provide better mobility and manoevrability. Other features include air conditioning and a gun station fitted with a 7.62mm machine-gun that can be controlled from inside the vehicle. Nine hundred FV430s are expected to be modified in this way and are being deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan alongside the new Mastiff PPV and Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle, relieving some of the pressure off of the Warrior fleet.^[2] [1]

The modifications, as well as bringing the vehicle's level of protection up to that of the Warrior, will give it better cross country performance and a new top speed of 45 mph (72 km/h).^[3]

Modifications on the first 50 units were carried out in between January and October 2006 at the ABRO facility in Dorset by BAE Land Systems at a cost of £85 million.