Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/713424
engine with over 1000 hp. Despite the satisfy- ing results, Marder 2 was not approved. After the end of the Cold War, it was decided that Bundeswehr cannot afford such an expensive vehicle, so the works were cancelled. German army went back to the idea of replac- ing the old Marder 1 in the half of 1990s. Many representatives of German industry were in- vited to participate in the project "The new ar- mored platform" (Neue Gepanzerte Plattform, NGP), which was officially launched in 1997. The aim was to de- velop a new main battle tank and an infantry fighting vehicle. During design works, the particular focus was put on providing new vehicles with very high survivability. Due to such requirements and ambitions to build a universal means for both specialized machines, the vision of the new infantry fighting vehicle (NGP-SPz) presented by Krauss-Maffei (since 1999 known as Krauss- Maffei Wegman, KMW) and Rheinmetall dis- tinguished itself with ballistic protection level comparable to a tank. That is why the combat weight was unusually high - 50 tonnes. One of the projects of the KMW included application of a structural form with a drive compartment placed at the right side of the back hull. Infantry soldiers would leave the vehicle through a quite narrow corridor led along the left side. There was also an optional idea of using a hy- brid drive with two Diesel-electric units places at the sides of the hull with an assault hatch in its axis. Rheinmetall proposed a more standard solution, with a drive compartment at front of the self-supporting body. In both cas- es, all the crew members were to sit in the hull, while armaments, including a high-RPM cannon, coaxial machine gun and ATGM launcher, were placed in an remotely controlled turret. As a result of works over NGP, a demonstrator of "a fully protected hull" (Experimentalwanne Gesamtschutz, EGS) was created with a model of an unmanned turret. At the beginning of the 21st century, the future of the project become very uncertain. The significance of designing a 50- or 60-tonne IFV was questioned due to discussions concerning the future of the heav- iest armored vehicles and the superiority of www.fragoutmag.com