The Swiss company General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG (GDELS-MOWAG, the Swiss branch of General Dynamics Corporation) has introduced a new version of its well-known Piranha family of wheeled armored vehicles, called Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier (HMC), and featuring a 10x10 wheel formula unique to modern armored vehicles.
Image of Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier (HMC) 10x10 wheeled armored vehicle from General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG (c) General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG
This machine is presented as a multi-purpose powerful platform for accommodating a wide range of heavy payloads, including in a containerized version. Although GDELS-MOWAG does not directly name the base of the car, however, according to Swiss sources, the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier is made on the Piranha IV platform. According to the company's press release, the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier 10x10 can have a maximum combat weight of up to 40 tons and a payload weight of up to 17 tons. The length of the machine is 9.11 m (length Piranha IV 8x8 - 7.24 m), width 2.84 m, height 2.39 m. The machine has four controllable axes (1, 2, 4 and 5), which ensures a minimum turning radius of "less than 18 m" and, in general, as stated, fully complies with EU rules on the movement of public roads.
The Piranha IV machine in the basic 8x8 version was first introduced by MOWAG in 2001, but it did not find customers for almost 20 years until it began to be purchased for the Swiss armed forces in special versions (self- propelled mortar and engineering vehicle) from 2021.
The offer of the Piranha IV 10x10 platform variant to the market is now connected with the creation of this variant as a chassis for a promising 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzer for the Swiss army within the framework of the Artillery Wirkplattform und Wirkmittel 2026 program, which provides for the purchase of self-propelled self-propelled guns on a wheeled chassis for the Swiss army to replace the 155mm/47 modernized tracked self-propelled M109 KAWEST howitzers. In 2022, two final candidates were selected under this program - the BAE Systems Hägglunds Archer self-propelled gun designed on the RMMV HX2 8×8 automobile chassis and the self-propelled gun with the automated artillery fire module Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155, aka AGM) presented by the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW, now KNDS Germany), originally offered on the chassis of Boxer 8x8 or Piranha IV 8x8 armored personnel carriers. However, in 2023 it became known that now the RCH 155 variant with installation on the new Piranha IV 10x10 chassis was presented for the Swiss army under this program, and in early 2024 photos of the prototype of such an ACS appeared, and now the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier 10x10 chassis created as part of the work on this project is also presented separately on the market.
It should be noted that earlier in the 1990s, MOWAG had already presented a 10x10 version of the Piranha III armored personnel carrier, but these vehicles were delivered in only 13 samples in special versions (command and staff and radar carrier) for the Swedish coastal artillery.
Image of the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier (HMC) 10x10 wheeled armored vehicle in the version for containerized loads or the base of a self-propelled artillery installation by General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG (c) General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG
Image of a 155mm/52 self-propelled howitzer with an automated Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155) based on a Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier (HMC) 10x10 wheeled armored vehicle from General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG (c) KNDS
Participating in the Swiss Army tender is a prototype 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzer with an automated Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155) based on the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier (HMC) 10x10 wheeled armored vehicle from General Dynamics European Land Systems - MOWAG (c) twitter.com