Infantry fighting vehicle

An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) is a type of armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them.

IFVs are similar to armoured personnel carriers (APCs), designed to transport five to ten infantrymen and their equipment. They are differentiated from APCs ("battle taxis") by their enhanced armament, allowing them to give direct-fire support during an assault, firing ports, allowing the infantry to fire personal weapons while mounted, and usually improved armour. They are typically armed with an autocannon of 20 to 30 mm caliber, and possibly with ATGMs. IFVs are usually tracked, but some wheeled vehicles fall into this category, too. IFVs are much less heavily armed and armoured than Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), but they sometimes carry heavy missiles, such as the NATO 'TOW' missile and Soviet 'Spigot' which offer a significant threat to tanks.

Western powers were surprised when the Soviet Union paraded the first IFV, the BMP-1, in 1967. The BMP possessed a very low-profile and was armed with both a 73 mm smoothbore gun and an AT-3 Sagger ATGM. Its steeply-sloped front armour offered partial protection against NATO's standard .50-calibre machine gun in a 60 degree frontal arc, while its smoothbore gun and ATGM were a threat to NATO armoured personnel carriers and even main battle tanks. It was not quite the breakthrough some would make it out to be, as, in practice it performed similar to heavily-armed armoured personal carriers which NATO countries had been working on previously.

Since then, all major military powers have developed or adopted IFVs. Examples include the British Warrior, the American M2 & M3 and the new Stryker, the Spanish Pizarro, the Italian Dardo, the German Marder, the South African Ratel and the Swedish Combat Vehicle 90.

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See also