"Military Martial Plane" Author: Lu Zhi
The United States' M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle has always been called one of the three pillars of US Army . The other two are Abrams main battle tank and Hummer high-motor military vehicles. Or we simply call it a mighty, so that no one can argue. In fact, these three pillar vehicles cannot be regarded as the most advanced from today's perspective, especially the M2 infantry fighting vehicle . And recently, the US branch of German weapons and automobile manufacturer Rheinmetallurgical Corporation has launched an improved version of the Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which will participate in the US OMFV program. So what is the origin of this lynx infantry fighting vehicle? Can you finally win the project?
▲Picture source: Internet
Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle From the name, it is an authentic German armored vehicle . After all, lynx is also a cat animal. The Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle was developed in 2015 and is currently one of the latest advanced infantry fighting vehicles developed in the world. The core of its design and development is to provide a tracked infantry fighting vehicle with excellent protection, and different versions can be launched according to different users. There are two main models, one is the KF31 and the other is the larger and heavier KF41.
▲Picture source: Internet
KF31 has a total weight of 35~38 tons. In the Germans' terms, it is a relatively light model, but in fact, this weight is already considered a medium-sized heavy infantry fighting vehicle worldwide. Although it is not as heavy as the Russian T15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle , nor is it as heavy as the Israeli tank, it is still much heavier than the traditional M2, especially 2 to 3 times higher than the Russian BMP series infantry fighting vehicle, and the strong protection can be imagined. But this is just a relatively lightweight model, and the KF41 weighs 50 tons, which is the standard heavy infantry fighting vehicle , which houses 3 members and 8 crew members. The total combat weight of 50 tons is heavier than almost all Russian tanks and , and far exceeds that of ordinary infantry fighting vehicles. Overall, its protection ability even reaches the level of early T90 tanks and .
▲Picture source: Internet
In terms of weapons, Germany has selected a variety of weapons for this new infantry fighting vehicle, such as 30mm cannon and 35mm cannon. In addition to the traditional 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, it can also choose anti-tank missile , including long spikes. Of course, with such a good chassis, it is naturally not simply used as an infantry combat vehicle. In February this year, Germany also released the Lynx 120 model, a fire assault gun version developed on the KF31 version. It is actually an light tank . The main weapon is a 120mm smoothbore gun . The turret has also been replaced with a larger human turret.
▲Picture source: Internet
From the basic design point of view, this infantry fighting vehicle born in Germany has almost no shortcomings. Whether it is a 750-horsepower diesel engine or a higher power 1140-horsepower diesel engine, it can ensure that the infantry fighting vehicle has quite strong maneuverability, and its protection ability and firepower are also online.
▲Image source: Internet
In October 2018, Rheinmetall announced a cooperation with Raytheon to launch KF41 to the US Army. But in 2020, the United States canceled the OMFA prototype design competition and adjusted the project, the United States began to re-tender again. So far, a total of five companies have participated in the competition, including Rheinmetallurgy Vehicles in the United States and BAE system company in Europe, as well as General Dynamics Land Systems in the United States, and Oshkosh Defense Company, which has been quite popular in recent years. According to the United States' plan, production will start at low speed in 2029, production at full speed by 2013, and the current M2 infantry fighting vehicles will be replaced in large quantities.
▲Picture source: Internet
So will the lynx infantry fighting vehicle win in the end? We think the probability is not very high. I wonder if you have noticed that although the overall design and subsystem design of the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle are quite outstanding, it is more like a modern upgraded version of infantry fighting vehicle in the 1980s and 1990s, and there are not many real modern breakthroughs. Let’s take a look at the three very popular new main battle tanks recently. One is the T14 tank that seems to appear on the Ukrainian battlefield, the other is the Abrams X tank exposed by the United States, and the other is the next-generation tank of our country covered with cloth. All these three tanks use unmanned turrets and active protection designs, and use cutting-edge technology in large quantities, which makes the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle look a little old-fashioned, although it is good in all aspects, and Rhine is a fine product.
▲Picture source: Internet
The key problem is that among the current competitive companies, there are American companies, and the United States has particularly protected its own weapons companies in recent years. For example, the Boeing 's KC46A tanker is not as good as the European A330MRTT aircraft, but the United States still protects its own company and chooses the KC46A. And this KC46A is still being stitched and repaired, which is a big joke.
The selection of US weapons is completely different from the past pursuit of excellence. military-industrial complex has blocked the development of the US military. Many factors such as politics and economy will affect the choice of weapons, and the final price is very expensive. In addition, the United States has always attached significantly less importance to the development of ground weapons than the Navy and Air Force, so this selection is likely to make people lose their glasses.
▲Image source: Internet
