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The FV432 is the armoured personnel carrier variant of the British Army's FV430 series of armoured fighting vehicles. Since its introduction in the 1960s it has been the most common variant used for transporting infantry on the battlefield. In the 1980s, almost 2,500 vehicles were in use, with around 1,500 still in operation - mostly in supporting arms rather than front-line infantry service.
Although the FV432 Series was going to be phased out of service while replaced by newer vehicles such as the Warrior and the CVR(T) series, they are now gradually being upgraded to extend their service through into the next decade. The improvements take the form of an engine upgrade, new steering unit, and new braking system.
History
The FV432 was designed to be the armoured personnel carrier in the FV430 series. Production started in 1962 by GKN Sankey and ended in 1971 giving approximately three thousand vehicles.
The FV432 is an all steel construction. The FV432 chassis is a conventional tracked design with the engine at the front and the driving position to the right. Directly behind the driver position is the vehicle commander's hatch. There is a large split-hatch round opening in the passenger compartment roof and a side-hinged door in the rear for loading and unloading. In common with such an old design there are no firing ports for the troops carried - British Army doctrine has always been to dismount from vehicles to fight. The passenger compartment has five seats either side - these fold up to provide a flat cargo space.
Wading screens were fitted as standard, and the vehicle has a water speed of about 6 km/h when converted for swimming.
The FV432 with regular regiments is equipped with a pintle-mounted L7 GPMG, vehicles with the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and Royal Signals had the Bren gun, they now subsequently also use the L7 GPMG. There are two three-barrel smoke dischargers at the front.
A number of surplus vehicles were sold to the Indian Army after being withdrawn from British service.
Variants
The FV432 has been produced in 2 major variants, the Mark 1 (with a Mark 1/1 sub-mark) with petrol engines and Mark 2 with the multi-fuel engine. The submark 2/2 variant has its NBC pack flush with the hull side.
The FV432 has proven to be flexible in use and can be converted from one role to another with reasonable ease, and in addition to the normal armoured personnel carrier role, it has been used as:
- a command vehicle (with an additional canvas "penthouse")
- an ambulance, with four stretcher places
- a cargo carrier, for up to 3,600 kg
- a recovery vehicle, with internally-mounted winch
- a communications vehicle
all these still being under the FV432 designation.
FV432s used by combat infantry units have also been equipped with:
- the WOMBAT recoiless rifle
- an 84mm infantry gun (firing from the roof hatch)
- an 81mm mortar (firing through the roof hatch)
- the Peak Engineering turret with 7.62mm GPMG replacing the roof hatch.
- a 30 mm Rarden-gun equipped turret (taken from the Fox scout car; 13 converted)
- a night-surveillance ZB 298 radar
- stowage for MILAN anti-tank missiles when used to carry two missile teams.
FV432s used by the Royal Artillery have been equipped with:
- a FACE fire control computer
- Green Archer or later Cymbeline mortar-location radar
- sound ranging equipment
FV432s used by the Royal Engineers have been equipped with:
- a towed layer for anti-tank Bar Mines
- a launcher for Ranger anti-personnel mines
- a towed Giant Viper mine-clearing system
See also
- M113 - a visually similar American-built amroured personnel carrier
- FV432 at Army-Guide.com
External links
Armoured personnel carriers | British armoured fighting vehicles
"FV432"