The Singapore Army has successfully concluded the inaugural overseas live-firing for the Hunter Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) during the autumn frame of Ex Panzer Strike at Oberlausitz Military Training Area (OMTA),Germany. OMTA, which is itself about a quarter the size of Singapore, has given the Singapore Army the flexibility to train without the space constraints they experience at home, including concurrent live-firing of up to four ranges for armored units and engaging targets at greater range. HQ Armour Servicemen successfully fired the Hunter Armoured Fighting Vehicle’s SPIKE-LR2 anti-tank guided missile for the 1st time.
The Hunter AFV is a tracked Singaporean armoured fighting vehicle jointly developed by ST Engineering, Defence Science and Technology Agency, and the Singapore Army. Intended to replace the Singapore Army’s aging Ultra M113 armoured personnel carriers, it was commissioned in 2019. It is the Singapore Army’s first fully digitalised platform and is designed to provide armoured forces with enhanced capabilities to operate more effectively and efficiently in various phases of military operations. Formerly, it was known as ST Kinetics Next Generation Armoured Fighting Vehicle (NGAFV).
The vehicle has a tracked chassis and is crewed by a commander, a driver, and a gunner. The vehicle is equipped with an integrated combat cockpit, which allows the commander and gunner to use a common set of controls to operate the Hunter, and a drive by wire capability, which allows the vehicle commander to take over driving functions from the driver. The commander and gunners also have independent sights. The Hunter has an MTU 8V-199 TE20 720hp (530kW) turbocharged diesel engine, & an HMX3000 Hydro-mechanical infinitely variable transmission. It has InArm Hydro-pneumatic suspension provided by Hortsman of the UK.
The Hunter AFV has a remotely controlled Samson Mk II turret from Rafael armed with a 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II cannon, with a magazine for 200 30x173mm rounds, two SPIKE-LR2 anti-tank guided missiles, a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, and eight 76 mm smoke grenade launchers. The missile is designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with a counter-active protection system (CAPS) capability, being able to hit targets at higher impact angles of up to 70 degrees. Spike-LR II has increased range of 5.5 km (3.4 mi) at ground level and 10 km using an RF data-link, warhead options of tandem HEAT with 30% increased armor penetration.
