Casspir

Casspir Mk.3
	Casspir in a museum in Pretoria (2008)
General properties
crew	2 (commander, driver) + 12 infantrymen
length	6.9 m
width	2.45 m
height	2.85 m
Dimensions	10.88 tons
	Armor and armament
Armor	unknown
Main armament	different: 3 × 7.62 mm MG or 20 mm cannon
Secondary armament	no
agility
drive	Turbo diesel Mercedes-Benz OM 352A; 124 kW (168 PS)
suspension	Wheel suspension (4 × 4)
Top speed	98 km / h (road) ; 70 km / h (terrain)
Power / weight	11.4 kW / ton
Range	770 km

Casspir is a mine-protected , armored personnel carrier with four-wheel drive from South Africa . The originally four-wheeled (4 × 4) armored car has been in service and tested in combat since 1979. The vehicle is now manufactured by OMC Land Systems, a South African subsidiary of the armaments company BAE Systems , and is now also available as a 6 × 6 version.

description

Casspir with steel wheels clearing mines on the US Bagram base in Afghanistan, around 2003

The armored car can accommodate a crew of two and twelve other soldiers including equipment. The design of the Casspir enables passive protection against landmines. The cabin and the engine of the vehicle are relatively high above the ground, so that damage to the passenger compartment and resulting killing or wounding of the occupants by a mine explosion under the vehicle is largely excluded. The vehicle has a ground clearance of 410 mm and can cross trenches that are 1.06 m wide. In addition, the V-shaped central part of the vehicle hull helps protect the crew by deflecting the force of an explosion to the side. In addition to these constructive protective measures, the Casspir has armor. On the one hand, this further increases mine safety and, on the other hand, offers protection against bombardment with handguns . The main advantages of the Casspir are its resistance to mines and the mostly simple repair in the field. Until the appearance of various replicas and further developments such as the US Buffalo in the 2000s, it was the only military all-purpose vehicle with a level 3 mine protection, which includes important vehicle components such as the engine. Therefore, the Casspir is not only used by the armed forces of many countries, but also by aid organizations. These use him u. a. also for mine clearance in particularly heavily mined regions of the world.

In the days of South African apartheid , the casspir was seen very often. In the townships he was used to dissolve protests and crack down on unrest. The special unit Koevoet put him to fight insurgents of SWAPO in South West Africa (now Namibia a). It is also part of the equipment of the South African Police Service, which was founded after the end of apartheid .

variants

The continuous V-shaped underbody deflects the force of a mine explosion to the side to protect the occupants and vehicle, which is why the vehicle is still used today, e.g. B. from the US military, from civil aid organizations, or as here from the African Union 2012.