At the international defense industrial exhibition IDEX-2019, which was held from 17 to 21 February 2019 in Abu Dhabi (UAE), a new armored vehicle from the Nimr armored vehicle family was demonstrated. We are talking about the Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV (Multi-Role Armored Vehicle) armored vehicle with a 4x4 wheel arrangement, which differs from the previously presented combat vehicles by an increased level of protection. Nimr Automotive, a company from the United Arab Emirates, is developing armored vehicles of the Nimr family. The debut of Nimr armored vehicles at the IDEX exhibition took place back in 2005.
According to the assurances of the representatives of the manufacturing company, the new armored car was created to solve a wide range of special military tasks, while ensuring a high level of survival of the crew and troops, mobility and firepower. The Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV armored car, presented at the exhibition in Abu Dhabi, was equipped with a Platt MR550 ring protection turret with a 7, 62-mm six-barreled Dillon Aero M134D Minigun machine gun installed in it. The family of multi-barreled rapid-fire machine guns, built according to the Gatling scheme, developed in the United States in the 1960s, is now widely used by the armies of many countries of the world. The machine gun is designed for a standard NATO cartridge 7, 62x51 mm, its technical rate of fire is 3000-6000 rounds per minute, which provides a very high density of fire.
If we turn to the history of armored vehicles under the Nimr brand, then they have Russian roots, and the history of their appearance goes back to the early 2000s. So the order for the creation of a multipurpose vehicle for the Jordanian Armed Forces was first placed through the Bin Jabr Group Ltd (BJG) from the UAE, a total of $ 60 million was allocated for the development of a new combat vehicle, including the release of an experimental batch. This order was received by the Russian company Industrial Computer Technologies (PKT), a subsidiary of the Russian auto giant OJSC GAZ. The first samples of the Tiger HMTV armored car were demonstrated in Abu Dhabi at the IDEX-2001 international exhibition and made a good impression on the customer, but there was no contract for the serial production of the vehicles.
Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV
After the Emirati company BJG refused to continue work on the project with the Russian company PKT, each of the parties still had a package of technical documentation for the armored vehicle, in addition to everything, the first three prototypes of the new armored car remained in the United Arab Emirates, which were not only demonstrated at exhibition IDEX, but also passed full tests in desert conditions. Soon, in Jordan, by order of the UAE General Staff, BJG and Jordanian KADDB (King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau), which was the end customer of armored vehicles, created a joint venture called Advanced Industries of Arabia (abbreviated AIA, with 80 percent of the shares the company was owned by BJG). At the BJG plant, since July 2005, the first 500 Nimr armored vehicles have been assembled in four different versions.
Today, Ajban is the marketing brand for the entire family of former Nimr armored vehicles, made using a 4x4 wheel arrangement. The trademark belongs to the Nimr Automotive company. Ajban armored vehicles are a further development of combat vehicles, created at one time by UAE specialists and Russian designers of the GAZ group, in Russia they are independently developing and are known under the designation "Tiger". At the same time, it should be noted that the Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV armored vehicle demonstrated at the IDEX-2019 exhibition shows that it managed to go far from the original Nimr / Tiger armored car of the early 2000s, having little in common with the Russian development, apart from the common layout.
Previously, Nimr Automotive was controlled by the UAE state investment holding, but since 2015, it is part of the Emirates Defense Industries Company EDIC. The company has been producing light armored vehicles of the Nimr family with a 4x4 wheel arrangement at its plant in Abu Dhabi since 2005. Since then, the company has already developed a large number of different modifications of the Nimr and has almost completely redesigned the armored car with the assistance of Western specialists. Currently, the company offers two main options on the international market: the standard Ajban 450, as well as the carrier of various weapons and equipment Ajban 440A. Variants of armored vehicles with a 6x6 wheel arrangement are being promoted on the market under a different brand - Hafeet. It is known that Nimr / Ajban armored vehicles were sold to at least 10 countries of the world, and in 2016 a statement was made about the release of the 1000th combat vehicle of this family.
Platt MR550 turret with a 7.62 mm Dillon Aero M134D Minigun six-barreled machine gun
The Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV armored vehicle presented at the last exhibition is a further development of the serially produced version of the Ajban 440A / 450 since 2015. The new armored car has the same dimensions, but has a higher level of protection. The manufacturer calls the key feature of the armored car the presence of a "scalable" level of protection: ballistic (bullets and fragments of shells and mines), mine-explosive, as well as protection against improvised explosive devices. The armored car is also equipped with bulletproof glass, which enhances the situational awareness of the crew and troops. The manufacturer does not disclose exact details about the security of the Ajban Nimr 447A, but reports that the actual additional weight of the reservation is, depending on the execution options, from 2 to 2, 8 tons. With the combat weight of the Ajban 440A / 450 armored vehicles from 9, 7 to 11 tons, this means that the combat weight of the novelty presented in Abu Dhabi is from 12, 5 to 13 tons.
Due to a rather significant increase in mass, a new suspension and new axles, as well as a new transfer case, were installed on the Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV armored car. The independent suspension system implemented on the car provides the car with a high level of mobility when driving over rough terrain, and the presence of a central tire pressure regulation system allows the driver to independently change the pressure in accordance with the type of terrain in which the armored car is moving.
The presented armored car Ajban Nimr 447A can carry up to two crew members and five paratroopers (7 people in total), entry and exit is carried out through four side doors (two on each side). The presence of four full-fledged doors allows the crew and the landing party to quickly take their places or leave the armored car if necessary. At the same time, elements were introduced into the design of the armored vehicle to provide mine protection. In particular, all seats have an explosion mitigation effect. The fuel tank of the armored car was made sealed. And the engine compartment is fully armored.
Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV
The power of the Cummins diesel engine normally installed on the armored car was slightly increased (from 221 to 223 kW), while there is a possibility of installing an engine with a capacity of 269 kW (365 hp). On the highway, the Ajban Nimr 447A MRAV armored car can reach a maximum speed of 120 km / h. According to the assurances of the developers, various weapons systems can be installed on the armored car. For example, the Ajban Nimr 440A armored vehicle can be equipped with a Russian-made Kornet-E anti-tank missile system. An armored car with such weapons got into a curious story in 2018 when a trailer transporting it to Russia got into a car accident near Tula. On the exhibition model, as mentioned above, a turret with a 7, 62-mm six-barreled Dillon Aero M134D Minigun machine gun was installed. Also on this armored car was placed the passive countermeasure system Lacroix Galix Automated Obscurance System (AOS), which provides automatic firing of smoke grenades in the direction from which the enemy is firing at the car.
