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| Casspir Mk3 | |
| Country Of Origin: | South Africa |
| Designation: | Armoured Personnel Carrier |
| Configuration: | 4 x 4 |
| Manufacturer: | Vickers OMC |
| Length: | 6.9 m |
| Width: | 2.45 m |
| Height: | 2.85 m |
| Weight: | 10.88 t |
| Ground Clearance: | 410 mm |
| Trench: | 1.06 m |
| Speed: | 98 km/h (road) 70 km/h (off-road) |
| Range: | 770 km |
| Primary armament: | various: 3 x 7.76 mm MG or 20 mm cannon |
| Secondary armament: | 12 firing ports |
| Power plant: | 124 kW turbo-charged diesel OM352A by Mercedes Benz |
| Crew: | 14 |
The Casspir, a combat-proven, landmine-protected personnel carrier (APC), has been in use in South Africa for over 20 years. It is a four wheeled armoured vehicle, used for transport of troops. It can hold a crew of two, plus 12 additional soldiers and associated gear. The Casspir is unique in design, providing for passive mine defence. The main body of the vehicle is raised above the ground, so that if a mine is detonated, the explosion is less likely to damage the crew compartment and kill the occupants. The cross-section of the hull is V-shaped, directing the force of the explosion outwards, further protecting the occupants. The vehicle is also armoured for added mine safety, as well as protection from small arms fire. Casspir's mine protection and field repairability are legendary and it is currently the only general purpose MPV in service with a triple mine protection level that includes main components. These factors, among others, lead to Casspir being the MPV of choice for several forces and for organizations employed in humanitarian operations (including mine clearing) in mine-infested areas.
The Casspir was ubiquitous during the days of apartheid in South Africa. It was commonly used in the townships for crowd and riot control.
Production history
Designed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), some 2500 Casspir series APC's were originally built by TFM of South Africa, which was subsequently taken over by Reumech OMC. Reumech in turn was taken over by Vickers Defence Systems of the UK and renamed Vickers OMC. When Alvis purchased Vickers Defence Systems to become Alvis Vickers, Vickers OMC became Alvis OMC. In 2004 BAE Systems acquired Alvis Vickers and Alvis OMC was renamed Land Systems OMC.
In 1998, two Casspir mine-protected vehicles (MPVs) underwent extensive mobility and ballistic evaluation in India over two months, covering over 9000 km. As part of this evaluation, one of the vehicles was put through four blast tests, involving one anti-tank mine and three improvised devices of the type typically encountered during operations in Jammu & Kashmir. The Casspir MPV was then repaired and driven back to the evaluation centre. In August 1998, India purchased 90 'reconditioned' Casspirs for the Army and Para-Military forces in Jammu & Kashmir. In April 1999, the Army acquired a further 90 Casspir MPVs and an additional 75 were delivered in 2001.
Variants
Each variant comes in different versions
- APC - (armoured personnel carrier)
- FISTV - Fire Support Team vehicle
- Utility vehicle - a wide range of weapons can be mounted on platform
- Recovery vehicle - 15 ton capacity
- Riot Control vehicle
- Water Tanker - 5000 litres
- Casspir MK 2C (I)
- Casspir MK 3 - 170 hp (127 kW) ADE-352T 6 cylinder turbo-diesel
- Buffalo - 6 wheeled version
Operators
- Djibouti - 9 (refurbished SANDF units)
- India - 255 (refurbished SANDF units)
- Namibia
- Peru
- South Africa
- United States (called the Buffalo)
Combat History
- Angola
- Namibia
- Mozambique
- Croatia - de-mining
- Afghanistan - Bagram Air Base - de-mining 2003
- Iraq
See also
"Casspir"