At Land Forces 2018 Rheinmetall displays its Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) to the international public, following the release of the Request for Tender for Australia’s Land 400 Phase 3 Mounted Combat Capability programme. The programme will replace the Australian Army’s existing M113AS4 tracked vehicles but the tender will close in March 2019 so there is not much time for Rheinmetall to complete its tests. The Land Forces 2018 will be an excellent opportunity to once again demonstrate its new development KF41 infantry fighting vehicle. Rheinmetall already has the PUMA IFV it does not meet the RFT requirements because that vehicle is specifically designed for the German Army. It is expensive and has a remote turret rather than the manned turret specified by Australia. The Land Forces 2018 is an international industry exposition to showcase equipment, technology and services for the armies of Australia and the Indo-Asia-Pacific.
The Lynx KF41 is a complete family of vehicles that utilises a common drive module and a flexible mission kit arrangement to allow any base vehicle to be configured as an IFV, an armoured personnel carrier, a command vehicle, a recovery vehicle or an ambulance. Changing from one configuration to another can occur within eight hours. This system provides significant total lifecycle cost savings due to base vehicle commonality, allowing customers to adjust force structures or develop new capabilities in an affordable and timely manner. The Lynx KF41 features a digital backbone with a generic open architecture that allows easy integration of new mission systems, while the entire survivability system is modular and upgradable to allow the vehicle to cope with the highly adaptive threats faced on the battlefield. Different survivability kits are available for peacekeeping situations, counter-insurgency operations in urban terrain, and mounted combat against a peer. A ballistic armour package can protect against anti-tank weapons, medium calibre ammunition, artillery shrapnel and bomblets in addition to a mine and IED package. No other vehicle can adapt to diverse environments across the full spectrum of operational challenges like the Lynx KF41 can.
The Lynx KF41 features the latest generation of propulsion technology with an 850 kW (1140hp) Liebherr engine and a proven Renk transmission. The 1,100 horsepower engine offers a top speed of 70km/h and an operational range of 500 kilometres. A flexible suspension system has been developed by Supashock, an Australian company, meaning the Lynx can be configured to carry various mission kits and survivability packages without compromising mobility. When configured for mounted combat operations with the Lance 2.0 turret and a survivability package suitable for peer-on-peer combat, the Lynx KF41 weighs approximately 44 tonnes. In this configuration it provides class leading mobility due the high power-to-weight ratio of 26 hp/t, while still leaving up to six tonnes of reserve payload for future growth.
The Lynx is fitted with the latest-generation Rheinmetall Lance 2.0 turret , armed with a 35mm dual-feed cannon with air bursting munition capability, and an externally powered Rheinmetall 7.62mm coaxial machine gun to the right, with a pod of two anti-tank guided weapons on the left side of the turret. The next enhancement is the integration of the new Wotan 35 electrically driven cannon that fires Rheinmetall’s proven and in-service 35x228mm ammunition family. Lastly, the Lance 2.0 has two flexible mission pods fitted to the left and right of the turret that allow installation of a variety of sub-systems to give the turret a specialist capability.Examples of customer-selectable mission pods include dual Rafael Spike LR2 ATGMs, non-line of sight strike loitering munitions, UAVs or an electronic warfare package.
