the fennek

[dunkellic]

well, bored right now so i figured i´ll "present" another light german army vehicle (after the dingo).
the subject of this thread is the "fennek". its a four wheeled armed reconnaissance vehicle, build by the german krauss maffei-wegmann company (which also builds the dingo and together with rhein-metall the german leopard 2a6 mbt).
the armour of this baby is a composite ceramic armour with dyneema and aramid incooperated (the dyneema serves as the spall-liner). the armor is twice as durable as steel armour while only half as heavy.
it resists up to 7.62mm x 51 armor piercing ammunition with a velocity of 930m/s (official data) - but additional armor plates can be mounted - of course the vehicle is (afaik) like the dingo protected against mines.
for the rest of the "protective measures", i´ll just quote army-technology:

Nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare protection is integrated in the crew compartment air-conditioning system. The infrared signature is minimised through special exhaust ducting. The powerpack compartment is fitted with a fire extinguishing and warning system, which can be automatically or manually triggered.

the vehicle is also equipped with smoke grenade launchers


the armor was put to a serious test when on the 9. of august 2006 a patrol of the german provincial reconstruction team consisting of a dingo and a fennek were attacked by small arms fire and rpg-7 launcher near kunduz.
one of the rpgs hit the fennek in the lower area of the door and detonated. the plasma "beam" (it was a heat-warhead) penetrated the armor of the fennek and ripped the door out of the hinges. the commander of the vehicle only suffered light wounds because lucky as he was, he had put is legs up at the moment when the rpg hit and the plasma jet "passed" through under his feet (where they normaly should have been).
it is assumed that by penetrating the armor the plasma jet was "widen" that much, that basically the whole kinetic energy was spread onto the area of the right door and that he couldnt cause further damage because of that, that´s also the reason that the door was ripped out of its hinges.

while this performance doesnt seem very convincing at first, it is quite good after all. you´ve got to consider that the vehicle weights only 9.7 tons, and with such a weight it is basically impossible to be safe against high-explosive-anti-tank ammunition. and because of the composite armor (to be more precise because of the dyneema serving as spall-liner) there were practically no fragments flying around inside the vehicle, which normaly pose a very great threat (bundeswehr hasnt released any pics of the damaged fennek).
also, for vehicles of this size, heavy machineguns pose a much greater threat, since their rof is much higer.
(little "rumor": i heard that because of the increased numbers of rpg attacks on fenneks and alike, the german soldier sometimes say that the "taliban go fennek hunting" - bundeswehr names all their vehicles after animals)

while the dutch mainly employ 12.7 mm machine guns and on some versions anti-tank missiles (a versions with stingers is also currently tested) the germans mainly fit their vehicles with a 7,62*51 mm mg3 or a 12,7*99 mm mg - though most of the german vehicles are equipped with a remote controlled 40mm fully automatic grenade launcher by heckler und koch (350 rounds per minute).

the vehicle is of course (after all, its a reconnaisance vehicle) fitted with a variety of sensors and stuff.
the motor is a 177kw (240 horsepowers) strong diesel engine and the fennek reaches up to 115 km/h.
it is operated by 3 people

now here are some pics (i reeeaaally like the look of this thing)



this one looks really great:



german patrol in a-stan with a dingo in the background:


closeup of the 40mm grenade launcher:

fennek hiding in the woods :


want to read a bit more: http://www.army-technology.com/projects/fennek/

[[R-MOD]Bob_Marley]

Thats so much cooler than the Humvee (different roles I know, but its still cooler).

Hmm... 71.46 mph top speed, thats pretty nippy.

I love the look of the Fennek, though it hasnt go the ears of its furry name sake.

[robbo]

The first picture is a Dutch Fennek just to let you no.
Nope it doesnt have nice fluffy ears it has smoke nade launcers

[dunkellic]

Originally Posted by robbo

The first picture is a Dutch Fennek just to let you no.
Nope it doesnt have nice fluffy ears it has smoke nade launcers

yup dutch, yellow license plate
thinking about making a thread about the new future german apc or about rheinmetalls "gefas", which is a project similiar to the fennek (yet it is only a project, without input from the german army), but looks a bit like a batmobil-suv (but shall have stanag *numbers* level 5 armor, whereas the fennek "only" got lvl 3


batmobi - i mean gefas model (looks kinda "shitty" imo^^)

[[R-DEV]bosco]

lol, this one kinda looks like it's from the Mad Max movies... but the Fennek is a really cool vehicle.

[[R-MOD]dunehunter]

The new one looks awesome, but the Fennek looks really cool...really robust. Nice specs too. *hopes they make a civilian version of it*

[dunkellic]

Originally Posted by dunehunter

*hopes they make a civilian version of it*

very very unlikely - rarely if never in germany a military vehicle gets a civil version here, also suvs are far less popular in germany than in america

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

They will make a special one just for "Diddy"
But really, it looks like it has much better vision out the front than the HMMV and a very low profile.
The sensor pod that extend up looks very nice for sneeking and peeking.
I hope the US get's something similiar if not the same thing.

[[R-MOD]dunehunter]

Aren't the US forces already getting a replacement for the hummer? I read something about it being a hybrid and stuff, so it could run very silently.

[dunkellic]

yeah, read about that too - but dont expect it too soon, i guess they just want to replace it in hot zones, not in general