RBY MK 1

RBY MK 1
RBY MK I at the Yad la-Shiryon Museum, Israel.
Type	Reconnaissance vehicle
Place of origin	Israel
Service history
In service	1975-present
Used by	Current Honduran Army Guatemalan Army Lesotho Army Former: Israel Defense Forces
Wars	Guatemalan Civil War
Production history
Designer	IAI RAMTA
Designed	1975
Produced	1975
Specifications
Weight	3600 kg
Length	5.023 m (16.48 ft)
Width	2.030 m (6.66 ft)
Height	1.660 m (5.45 ft)
Crew	2 (+6 passengers)

Armour	8 mm (0.31 in) steel (hull sides) 10 mm (0.39 in) steel (floor)
Main armament	Up to 5 machine guns (pintle mounts)
Engine	Chrysler 225-2 6-cylinder petrol or 6.8 litre V-8 diesel (Guatemalan RBY Mk 1 only) 120 hp or 145 hp depending on variant
Power/weight	Depends on Variant
Speed	100 km/h (62 mph)

The RBY Mk 1 is a light armoured reconnaissance vehicle that was produced by the RAMTA Division of Israel Aircraft Industries. RBY is and anglicized acronym for "Rechev Ben-Yaacov". "Rechev" is Hebrew for "vehicle" and "Ben-Yaacov" is the last name of the creator of the vehicle, Yitzchak Ben-Yaacov (1919-2011). In Israel the vehicle is known as the "Rabi", a pronunciation of the acronym. It was replaced in Israeli service by the RAMTA RAM 2000 family of vehicles, though it continues to be used and upgraded by foreign users.^[1] The RBY Mk 1 is no longer marketed to new customers.

Design

The RBY Mk 1 with a variety of potential applications in mind, including reconnaissance, commando operations, internal security, and long range patrols.

Considerable design effort was put into making the vehicle mine resistant - the wheels and axles were placed as far forward and backward as possible to maximize the distance of any detonation away from the crew and passengers, the bumpers were made of fiberglass so they would disintegrate in an explosion and minimize hazardous debris, and the thickest armour was incorporated into the floor, and the floor and hull were shaped to channel explosions away from the vehicle. Outside of the modified Guatemalan versions, the RBY Mk 1 had no doors (crew entered through the open-topped passenger compartment) to ensure that the hull had no weak points.^[1]

The weight of the vehicle was kept light enough to make it transportable by heavy lift helicopters, such as the CH-53 Sea Stallion.^[1]

While the RBY Mk 1 featured no integral armament, provisions were made for up to five machine guns by placing pintle mounts at various points around the vehicle.

Passenger seating was provided with two, back-to-back rows of three outward-facing seats. This allowed the passengers maintain a full 360 degree field of view, and operate any mounted machine guns.

Guatemalan Upgrades

In the mid to late 1990s, the Guatemalan Army began testing an upgraded and modified RBY MK 1. The new RBY MK 1 featured a new, more powerful diesel engine, and a kevlar roof for what had been the open cargo/passenger box, and access doors on either side of the vehicle for the now enclosed rear compartment. The roof incorporated a ring mount for a machine gun.^[2]

Variants

RBY Mk 1 Anti-tank - A modified version of the RBY Mk 1 was produced which featured a 106mm recoilless rifle, 16 rounds of ammunition and crew positions in place of the normal passenger seating.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to RBY.

References

Modern wheeled reconnaissance vehicles

4 x 4	AML BRDM-1 BRDM-2 BPM-97 Cobra Dozor-B Eagle EE-3 Jararaca Eland Fennek Ferret Fox FÚG Gagamba Komatsu RBY Spy Tiger Tigr VBL XAV

6 x 6	Alvis Saladin AMX-10 RC EE-9 Cascavel ERC 90 Sagaie LAV-600 Puma VBC-90 VEC-M1

8 x 8	ASLAV Coyote LAV-25 Luchs M1127 Rooikat Vextra

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 02, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.