PARIS: BAE Systems has unveiled a new build standard of its highly-regarded CV90 tracked armored vehicle – named Armadillo. The armored personnel carrier variant is displayed for the first time at this week’s Eurosatory exhibition in Paris.
The CV90 Armadillo family of vehicles combines extremely high levels of protection with excellent mobility. The flexible modular design involves a rear roof section which can be unbolted to allow simple changeover between different mission fits. This ensures up to 80-per-cent commonality between variants and easy re-roleing of the base chassis.
BAE Systems Global Combat Systems business development director Tommy Gustafsson-Rask explains: “Recent conflicts have shown the need for higher levels of protection and a high degree of flexibility to meet new threats and rapidly changing operational environments – and CV90 Armadillo offers unparalleled protection. By removing the turret we have a vehicle with a combat weight of 27 tonnes with an additional eight tonnes available for equipment or extra armor.“
CV90 Armadillo has horizontal ballistic protection well above the NATO STANAG 4569 Level 5 standard and can withstand a mine blast of significantly above 10kg. It also features the Saab LEDS-150 hard kill device and an external fire suppression system.
All variants have space for a crew of three – commander, driver and gunner. The armored personnel carrier variant also carries eight dismounts. Other variants include command and control, medevac, mortar carrier and engineer vehicle.
Armadillo retains CV90’s excellent reliability and its modular design improves its logistics footprint still further. Future development for the build standard will include new variants, such as a bridgelayer and additional enhanced protection.
BAE Systems is a global defence, security and aerospace company with approximately 107,000 employees worldwide. The Company delivers a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. In 2009 BAE Systems reported sales of £22.4 billion (US$ 36.2 billion).
