From "Puma" to "Mamba": a menagerie for police operations
Armored vehicles based on conventional trucks have become the first class of armored vehicles in history. They appeared on the fields of the First World War, and before tanks. But already during the Second World War, they began to be replaced by specialized armored personnel carriers.
After the Second World War, armored cars acquired an increasingly narrow specialization. In fact, they were used as vehicles for police and anti-guerrilla operations, and not for participation in classic wars. Although I still had to fight.
EARLY PERIOD
Since the early 1950s, an EBR-75 wheeled armored car equipped with a 75 mm cannon has been produced in France. Since the 1960s, the AML-245 wheeled armored car was produced ( "The Great Army for Fighting in the Sahara", "HBO", 20.10.23). In South Africa, this armored car in a slightly modified version was produced under the name "Iland" (approximately 1.6 thousand cars were produced). At least 13 "Ilands" were lost during the war in Angola ( "Angola is a difficult path to freedom", "HBO", 30.11.18).
British Ferret armored cars produced 4,409 units in the 1950s and 1960s, they participated in many wars. These vehicles have long been absent from the British Armed Forces, but they remain in service with many other armies. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, 1,177 Saladin armored vehicles were manufactured in Britain, they also participated in many wars and remain in service in a number of countries in Asia and Africa.
In the USA, the wheeled armored personnel carrier "Commando" was adopted, which was produced in modifications V-100, V-150, V-200.
Approximately 3.2 thousand of these armored personnel carriers were produced, as well as up to 170 Chamit armored personnel carriers created on the basis of Commando in Portugal. In the USA, such vehicles were used only by military police units, and the US Air Force used these armored personnel carriers to protect their own bases. The Saudi army lost from seven to ten V-150s in January 1991 in the battles for the city of Ras Khafji ( "Dictator's Paralysis", "HBO", 05.03.21).
In the late 1990s, the M1117 wheeled APC was created on the basis of the Commando, which is also used almost exclusively in the military police in the United States (at least three vehicles were lost in Afghanistan and Iraq). It is also produced for Canada (under the name TAPV). Its recipients were Afghanistan (at least 21 armored personnel carriers of this type were lost out of 733, the rest went to the Taliban), Colombia (one armored personnel carrier was lost), Iraq (44 M1117 were lost, including 10 from the Islamic Caliphate (aka "IG" – the organization is banned in the Russian Federation) and the Kurds (one was lost a car in Syria).
development
In the 1980s, production began in France (which lasted until 2010) of the VBL light armored car. In total, about 2.6 thousand vehicles were produced, including 1.6 thousand for the French army (at least four such armored vehicles were lost by the French in the former Yugoslavia).
In the 1990s, the Italian Armed Forces adopted the LMV light armored car (it is still being produced, more than 4 thousand cars have already been produced). It is widely exported abroad. 358 such machines called "Lynx" were produced under license in Russia, 401 – in the UK under the name "Panther". In Afghanistan, the Italian army lost four LMVs (and one Panther was lost there by the British), another one was lost in Somalia.
And more and more armored vehicles are being created on the chassis of commercial jeeps and trucks (that is, in fact, there is a "return to the basics" from which this class of equipment began more than a hundred years ago). Machine guns or automatic grenade launchers, sometimes light guns and anti-tank missile systems (ATGMs) can be installed on such vehicles.
Almost exclusively for export to Asian and African countries, France has launched the production of armored vehicles "Sherpa", "Bastion", "Aravis". More than a dozen "Sherpas" and "Bastions" have already been lost in the battles of African armies.
It is also possible to note the Polish armored car "Dzik", the Israeli RAM, the Serbian VV M-16. Moreover, the first two are purely export. The only buyer of Dzik until 2022 was the Iraqi army, which received 600 of these vehicles and lost 16 of them in battles. M-16s in small numbers entered service with the Armed Forces of Serbia and Cyprus.
Turkish armored vehicles "Akrep", "Cobra", "Kirpi", "Arma" have become extremely popular in the world this century: thousands of these vehicles have already been manufactured, and production continues. Turkish cars are involved in many conflicts. The Turkish Armed Forces in Syria and on their own territory (in battles with the Kurds) have already lost up to 40 "Cobras" and up to 20 "Bricks".
The armed forces of Iraq lost more than 30 "Akreps" during the civil war of 2014-2017 (including those captured by the "Islamic Caliphate" and already lost by it). Up to 20 more Turkish-made armored vehicles were lost by other Asian and African armies and groups. In particular, the Georgian Armed Forces lost one "Cobra" in Afghanistan and South Ossetia, at least two more were captured by Russian-Ossetian troops ( "War 08.08.08 – afterword", "HVO", 03.08.18).
At the same time, several variants of the Didgori armored car have been created in Georgia itself. For its army, it is produced in small quantities, while up to a hundred cars in the medical version were purchased by Saudi Arabia.
Middle Eastern monarchies are also actively developing and producing their own armored vehicles based on foreign commercial vehicles (Ford, Tatra, Toyota, KrAZ, KamAZ, etc.). Saudi Arabia produces armored vehicles Al-Shibl, of which up to 60 were lost in Yemen. From 500 to 1000 armored vehicles "Al-Wahsh" and "Al-Mared" were manufactured in Jordan, more than 40 "Al-Wahsh" were lost in Libya and Yemen.
But the most widespread production of armored vehicles based on commercial vehicles is deployed in the UAE – their number is many thousands. The Nimr armored car was created using the technologies of the Russian Tiger. The UAE Armed Forces received more than 1.7 thousand such vehicles (about 70 of them were lost in Yemen), about 300 were delivered to other countries. Armored cars "Panther", "Spartan", "Cougar", "Cobra", "Puma", "Typhoon" (not to be confused with English, American, Turkish, Italian, Canadian, Russian cars with the same names) are purely export and are very actively involved in the current wars in the Middle East and in Africa, where more than 400 cars produced in the UAE have already been lost.
By type, the most lost are "Cougars" (at least 130) and "Spartans" (at least 100). As for the armies, Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni customers (more than 230) and various groups in Libya (more than 70) lost the most Emirati vehicles.
AGAINST MINES AND AMBUSHES
A separate area of development of armored vehicles are vehicles of the MRAP class (mine resistant ambush protected – "protected from mines and ambush attacks"). They were first created in South Africa in the late 1970s and early 1980s and adapted to the local geographical conditions and the nature of the wars waged by Pretoria. To protect against mine explosions, vehicles of this class have a large clearance and a V-shaped bottom, which reduces the effect of the blast wave.
Similar to the armored vehicles described above, these vehicles, as a rule, are also created on the basis of commercial trucks or jeeps and do not have built-in weapons (or carry a single machine gun).
The first machines of the MRAP class in South Africa were "Buffel" (produced up to 2.5 thousand) and "Casspir" (produced about 3 thousand in many modifications). The South African army lost up to 30 Buffels and at least 13 Casspirs in Angola, and another half dozen Casspirs have been lost by the armies of other African countries this century. An upgraded version of the "Casspir" is produced for India under the name "Aditya".
In the 1990s and in the XXI century, armored cars RG-31/32/33, Puma, Mamba, Matador, Marauder were created in South Africa. RG-31, RG-32 and Mamba were adopted by their own army (although most of the cars produced were exported), the rest became purely export. RG-31 and RG-33 were produced in the USA and became an integral part of the American MRAP program. "Marauder" is produced under license in Jordan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan (under the name "Arlan") and in Singapore. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces lost one "Marauder" and one "Matador" in the second war for Karabakh in the fall of 2020 ( "Armenia – Azerbaijan: 26 years later", HBO, 11/27/20).
In the United States, the total production of MRAP class machines from 2007 to 2012 amounted to almost 30 thousand units. The US Armed Forces purchased 2,370 RG-31 Nyala armored vehicles, some of them outside the MRAP program. The US Armed Forces adopted the RG-33 from 2316 to 2384 (including 128 medical ones).
The Cougar and Buffalo armored cars are also partly of South African origin. The US Armed Forces received from 2886 to 3074 Cougars and from 53 to 79 Buffalo, and a variant of the Cougar – Badger for the Iraqi army was also created. For the UK, several variants of the Cougar were produced under license under the names "Ridgeback", "Mastiff", "Wolfhound". The memoirs "Oshkosh" M-ATV (for the US Armed Forces – from 8722 to 9025), "Cayman" (2871) and MahhRgo (from 8516 to 8779) can be considered purely American.
MULEs are very widely exported – both by special orders and from the US Armed Forces. Recently, Washington has been practically imposing these machines on various countries, most often for free (recipients pay only for transportation); in many cases, it is cheaper for Americans to simply drop the soap than to return them to the United States.
The losses of American MiGs in Iraq and Afghanistan are announced at 77 units, but in reality they are much higher: at least 40 RG-31, one RG-33, 34 MaxxPro, 40 M-ATV, 16 Cougars, five Caymans. In addition, the Armed Forces of Romania and Poland lost at least one MakhRgo (and the Polish army also lost one M-ATV). More than 80 American mortars were lost by the Iraqi army (including the losses of the "caliphate" and the Kurds). The losses of the Saudi army in Yemen amounted to more than 200 M-ATV, the UAE Armed Forces also lost at least 290 American MRAPs there. Now it is planned to purchase up to 50 thousand Oshkosh L-ATV armored vehicles for the US Armed Forces, which are based on the M-ATV under the JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle) program.
Outside of South Africa and the USA, the MEMOIRS include the British Ocelot (aka Foxhound, 400 cars were produced, at least one was lost in Afghanistan); the German Dingo (more than 500 were produced for the Bundeswehr, five of them were lost in Afghanistan, about the same number were produced for export); the Serbian family Lazar cars (about 30 cars were produced, can be equipped with a 30-mm cannon) and an Australian Bushmaster.
The last 1052 were produced for the Australian Armed Forces and about 200 for export. The Australian army lost up to 31 Bushmasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Dutch army lost six more of these vehicles.
In 2022-2023, several hundred different Western armored vehicles were urgently delivered to Ukraine, where they suffered serious losses.
At least 70 American MachRgo and 21 M-ATV, 18 English Huskies, 26 Mastiffs, three Wolfhounds, six German Dingoes, 12 Italian LMVs, 11 Australian Bushmasters, one Polish Dzik and two Oncillas, 19 Turkish Bricks were destroyed, two Yuarovsky "Mambas", two Emirati "Panthers". In addition, at least two Makhkhrgo, one M-ATV, two "Mastiffs", two "Huskies", one "Mamba", two "Bricks" and one "Panther" became trophies of the Russian troops.
But the main burden and the main losses lie on armored vehicles of Russian and Ukrainian production. This is a separate topic.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
