At the international defense industrial exhibition IDEX-2019, which was held from February 17 to 21 in Abu Dhabi (UAE), the military-industrial group Paramount Group from South Africa presented its new product - the Mbombe 4 MRAP armored vehicle with a 4x4 wheel arrangement. The novelty is positioned by South African engineers as part of a large family of armored vehicles, which already includes the Mbombe 6 and Mbombe 8 models with 6x6 and 8x8 wheel configurations, respectively. At the same time, the manufacturer claims that all three combat vehicles of the Mbombe family have up to 70 percent of common nodes. This reduces the cost of their production and operation, as well as provides efficient logistics and facilitates the process of training military personnel.
A large number of common units and parts is one of the competitive advantages of the Mbombe family in the international market, since it allows potential customers of several models of combat vehicles of this family to significantly save on material and technical support and maintenance of this military equipment. According to the Paramount Group, the new Mbombe 4 will complement the Mbombe family of combat vehicles, designed to optimally meet the growing demand for well-protected versatile equipment in the international market. It is reported that Mbombe 4 is suitable for both conventional and asymmetric wars, as well as anti-terrorist operations and participation in peacekeeping missions.
Armored car Mbombe 4, photo: paramountgroup.com
It is already known that the novelty has its first customers. The UAE Ministry of Defense became the starting customer for the Mbombe 4 armored car. Representatives of the United Arab Emirates, on the first day of the IDEX-2019 exhibition, announced the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of four armored vehicles of this type. They are most likely purchased for evaluation testing. It is known that the deal is valued at $ 2, 7 million. At the same time, representatives of the manufacturing company said that in the summer of 2019, the Mbombe 4 armored vehicle will be tested by two more potential customers.
It is worth noting that today, engineers from the Republic of South Africa have probably the most experience in the development of mine-protected wheeled armored vehicles. You can even say they own the palm in this area. For the first time, armored vehicles of this class began to be used by the armed forces of the South African Republic, they used them in hostilities in Angola and Namibia. Later, their experience was adopted by other countries, primarily the United States, which began to massively produce armored vehicles of the MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) class after the entry of their troops into Iraq.
Combat vehicles of the Mbombe family, photo: paramountgroup.com
Back in September 2010 in South Africa at the international exhibition AAD, which is held every two years, a full-scale sample of the new mine-protected combat vehicle Mbombe, which was created by specialists from the Paramount Group, was presented for the first time. In 2010, the debut of a 6x6 combat vehicle took place. In the same year, this combat vehicle was adopted by the national defense forces of South Africa in the version of the armored personnel carrier, which could easily be converted into an ambulance. At the same time, the vehicle retains all its protective properties and can act as a platform for placing various weapons systems or installing various equipment.
Even then, engineers from South Africa positioned the novelty as a revolutionary development in the entire line of diverse mine-protected armored vehicles. According to the official website of the Paramount Group, the revolutionary and uniqueness of the project is due to the fact that it is the first combat vehicle of the MRAP class, which provides excellent protection against mines, without resorting to the traditional V-shaped design, which is used on most machines of this type. According to the manufacturer, the anti-mine resistance of the Mbombe 6 armored vehicle is up to 10 kg in TNT equivalent when blasted under the hull, up to 14 kg when blasted under the wheel and up to 50 kg in TNT equivalent when blasted away from the armored vehicle, however, without specifying at what distance an explosion occurs. At the same time, the use of a hull with a flat bottom makes it possible to reduce the silhouette of a combat vehicle to 2.4 meters, which has a positive effect on its visibility on the battlefield, which means it increases survivability. Also, reducing the height of the machine has a positive effect on its lateral stability.
Armored car Mbombe 4, photo: paramountgroup.com
The total combat weight of the recently presented Mbombe 4 armored vehicle is 16 tons, the payload mass is about three tons (various weapons systems, ammunition, crew and troops). The capacity of the armored car is 10 people, including 8 troops and two crew members. One of the defining characteristics of the vehicle, the manufacturer considers the presence of a stern ramp, which has already proven its effectiveness on the Mbombe 6 armored personnel carriers and Mbombe 8 infantry fighting vehicles, including in combat conditions. This ramp provides a quick deployment of troops, regardless of whether the armored vehicle is in a static position or in motion.
The all-welded carrying armored hull of the Mbombe 4 vehicle provides ballistic protection of the STANAG 4569 Level 3 level (with the use of additional hinged protection, it can be brought to the Level 4 standard), this corresponds to all-round protection against large-caliber cartridges of 14.5x114 mm. Mine protection measures provide STANAG 4569 Level 4a and 4b detonation protection. The manufacturer claims protection against lateral detonation of a mine or an improvised explosive device with a capacity of 50 kg in TNT equivalent.
The heart of the new Mbombe 4 armored vehicle is a 336 kW (457 hp) Cummins turbocharged diesel engine that works in conjunction with an Allison six-speed gearbox. The maximum speed of the armored car is 140 km / h, the cruising range on the highway is 800 km. The armored vehicle uses an independent suspension with pneumatic differential locks on both axles, wheels with 16.00xE20 tires, they are equipped with a centralized pressure control system. The steering wheel is electrically operated.
Armored car Mbombe 4, photo: paramountgroup.com
For the convenience of the crew and troops, the vehicle is equipped with a powerful air conditioning unit. At the same time, despite the fact that the car was created in South Africa, its developers took care of the possibility of operation in various climatic conditions. The armored car can be used in winter at air temperatures up to -20 degrees Celsius, in summer it can be operated at air temperatures up to +55 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the temperature range can be easily expanded, as the experience of joint production with Kazakhstan shows. For combat vehicles intended for the Kazakh army, the declared operating temperature is from -50 degrees Celsius. As the developers emphasize, Mbombe 4 was created specifically for potential local production in customer countries, the company is willing to transfer technology and skills, as evidenced by the joint ventures of Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering (KPE) and Singapore's ST Engineering.
At the same time Mbombe 4 can be a carrier of weapons systems and military equipment for various purposes. The machine, like its older brothers in the line, offers a wide range of payloads. And the on-board computer and system interface used make it possible to integrate the armored vehicle with various weapons systems of both Western and Eastern production. In particular, in Kazakhstan, Mbombe armored vehicles were successfully tested with Russian combat modules, including those armed with a 30-mm 2A42 automatic cannon and a PKM machine gun, and later with an AU-220M combat module with a powerful 57-mm cannon manufactured by Uralvagonzavod.
