Iveco LMV

The car was designed taking into account the experience of operating machines of a similar purpose during the conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s. At the stage of preliminary design of the machine, it was decided to provide a high level of mine resistance of the machine.

To reduce the cost of the car and the subsequent maintenance and repair costs, the design used many components and assemblies from previously produced models of commercial vehicles (in particular, the engine and transmission from an Iveco-2500 off-road car ^[2] ).

According to the developer, the LMV is the world's first machine of this class, in which the mine protection system is integrated and is an integral part of the chassis. The design of the machine is also designed taking into account the possibility of installing passive armor modules, according to some reports, the AMAP brand of the German company IBD . The frame of the machine is tubular from high-strength steel pipes of increased diameter. All manufactured Iveco LMV vehicles are equipped with units for mounting mounted armored modules (armored panels), however, the armored modules themselves are not included in the delivery package.

Iveco LMV provides fire protection for small arms of 5.56 and 7.62 mm calibers, improvised explosive devices and engineering mines, and optionally mounted mounted passive armor modules can provide protection against fire from heavy machine guns.

According to the requirements of STANAG 4569 Level 2 , the required level of mine resistance should provide protection when hitting a wheel with an anti-tank mine of a high-explosive action with a charge mass of 6 kg. To reduce the impact of a shock wave during a mine explosion, the clearance (0.473 m) is maximized, the lower part of the bottom in the cockpit area is V-shaped using sandwich -like layered material, which together serves as a lateral deviation and absorption, due to own deformation of the layered structure of the material of the bottom, high explosive action. Vital units (transmission, fuel tank) are shifted to the rear of the machine.

• maximum towed weight 4,200 kg
• six-speed automatic transmission
• Overcoming obstacles: ford 0.85 m deep (with preliminary preparation - 1.5 m), wall 0.5 m high

A variety of machine gun weapons can be installed on the vehicle, including those remotely controlled by Protector RWS modules.

In 2010, the cost of production at the Italian plant in Bolzano of one unarmored Iveco LMV M65 amounted to 170 thousand euros, with installed modules of mounted armor IBD - from 256 thousand euros, with an installed weapon module (machine gun, radio station, grenade launcher) from 461 thousand euros ^[3] .

The first appearance of Iveco LMV armored vehicles in Russia dates back to 2009, when KamAZ OJSC, with the assistance of Russian Technologies, purchased and imported into the country for testing two armored vehicles of this type. At the same time, the first reports of plans to adopt the Iveco LMV to the Russian army appeared. In 2010, two more LMVs were purchased, and at the end of 2010 - already at the expense of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - another 10 car kits assembled at KamAZ and officially named “Lynx” ^[4] . According to the customs declaration, each car kit cost the car factory 12 million rubles ^[5] .

At the same time, in March 2010, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Colonel Alexei Kuznetsov, denied information about the agency’s intention to purchase a large batch of Italian armored vehicles Iveco and said that the Ministry of Defense was not considering the acquisition of foreign armored vehicles ^[6] .

Nevertheless, the armored car was adopted to supply the Russian army with the order of the Minister of Defense No. 650 of June 16, 2010 ^[7] .

In December 2010, it became known that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation accepted Iveco LMV to supply the Russian army and allocated about 30 billion rubles for the purchase of 1775 vehicles during 2010-2016. In this case, the assembly of machines (under the brand name "Lynx") was supposed to take place in Russia ^[8] . According to the First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Vladimir Popovkin, in essence it will be a “screwdriver assembly” ^[9] .

The cost of a unit of imported equipment in 2011 amounted to "from 500 thousand dollars" ^[10] .

In December 2011, Russia and Italy signed a contract for the production of Lynx armored vehicles at MVPS LLC, a joint venture of Oboronservis OJSC and Iveco concern located in Voronezh. On March 14, 2012, a spokeswoman for the Russian Defense Minister, Irina Kovalchuk, said that in 2012, the armed forces "will receive the first 57 cars produced in Voronezh." According to her, the localization of the Rysey production at the Voronezh enterprise is currently 10%, and by 2014 it will reach 50% ^[11] .

In early April 2012, the Ministry of Defense announced the sale of two armored vehicles previously in service as having 80% depreciation ^[5] . As of the end of July 2012, the cost of assembly of one Lynx machine for the Russian Ministry of Defense was 20 million rubles ^[12] .

On September 21, 2012, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov stated that the Russian army needs more than 3 thousand Lynx armored vehicles developed by the Italian company Iveco ^[13] .

On December 26, 2012, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov announced a decision to change the technological partner for Iveco in the production of Lynx armored vehicles - from 2013, their assembly will take place in KAMAZ in Naberezhnye Chelny. Borisov also said that " today Russia has a contract for the assembly of 358 Iveco armored vehicles, and 57 of them have already been assembled at the facilities of the enterprise in Voronezh ... As for the contract for these 358 vehicles, I see no reason to revise it " ^[14] .

Criticism of Procurement for the RF Armed Forces

The purchase and adoption of a foreign Iveco LMV armored vehicle in the presence of a domestic-made Tiger armored vehicle produced criticism ^[15] .

In particular, it was noted that the Lynx is significantly inferior to the Tiger in terms of its set of characteristics - the Lynx has a 190-liter engine with a weight of 7.2 tons. with., and the machine itself does not have any modernization potential. The almost eight-ton “Tiger” of the latest modifications of the 6th protection class has a domestic diesel power of about 400 liters. with. and the machine has a very good modernization potential ^[16] . But, as stated by the Chief of the State Academic Technical University, Major General Alexander Shevchenko about the tests of the Tiger armored car with the sixth protection class - the Tigers with this level of test reservation were not submitted ^[17] .

Problems with bulletproof protection were noted - a number of places where it was not just weakened, but completely absent. So, the body armor panels are separated by a thick rubber seal, and the holes in the front doors through which the mirror adjustment levers pass are not protected ^[7] .

It is possible to get a wounded driver only from the outside, firing from personal weapons of the crew is impossible. The ammunition for the weapons mounted on the machine and for the service weapon of the soldiers is on the roof and in the unprotected aft compartment, that is, it is almost impossible to reload the weapon in battle conditions. Unsuccessfully located places for personnel - in the back row it is crowded, it is difficult to sit there for several hours with full equipment ^[18] .

It was also noted that the key components of the LMV M65 Iveco are not of Italian origin. Composite armor with ceramics is German, it is based on Dutch materials (organites), the engine is American, the gearbox is German. Licenses for the production of these units cannot be obtained from Italy. Thus, in Russia only the assembly of armored vehicles from car kits made in Italy is possible ^[19] .

It is noted that the assembly costs three times more than the acquisition of domestic "Tigers" ^[20] .

The authors noted violations during the military tests of the machine:

• So, the tests at the test site in Bronnitsy took place in good summer weather, and not in snow and frost or autumn thaw ^[21]
• in another case, in the fall of 2011, during the demonstration at the exhibition in Nizhny Tagil, the Lynx simply went around major obstacles ^[22] , while the Tiger overcame them all ^[7] .

Representatives of the Ministry of Defense say that Iveco technology, embodied in the armored car LMV M65, will help Russian specialists to create a promising armored personnel carrier "Boomerang", which will replace the BTR-80 and BTR-82. According to the author of the article, “... this is complete nonsense. Armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles are vehicles of completely different classes and for different purposes ” ^[20] .

In January 2013, the Russian Ministry of Defense, having bought 1,500 Iveco armored vehicles, suspended further purchases of these vehicles and does not plan to purchase them in the future, commander-in-chief of the Russian Army Vladimir Chirkin told reporters in Izhevsk ^{[23] [24]} .

• VTLM "Lince" - a modification adopted by the army of Italy and Spain.
• CLV "Panther" - modification for the army of Great Britain
• Protected car "Lynx" - a modification of IVECO 65E19WM for the Russian army, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Russian-made parts must be used in the construction of the car.
• in 2011, at the IDEB-2011 arms exhibition, the Czech Republic introduced Iveco LMV, equipped with a Kongsberg Protector M151A2 remotely controlled combat module with a 12.7 mm M2 QCB machine gun .
• in May 2012, at the IDEB-2012 arms exhibition in Bratislava, the Czech Republic introduced Iveco LMV, equipped with a Slovakia remotely controlled EVPU ZSRD 07 combat module with a 7.62-mm Belgian FN MAG machine gun.

•   Austria - 172 Iveco LMV as of 2018.
•   Albania - 23 Iveco LMV received and 2 more units ordered as of 2018.
•   Belgium - 440 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Brazil — 1464 Iveco LMV ordered as of 2016.
•   Great Britain - 401 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Spain - 395 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Italy - 2000 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Norway - 170 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Russia - in 2016 - 67 cars ^[23] . A total of 358 units were contracted, 1,775 units were planned, further deliveries were canceled ^{[25] [26]} A number of vehicles are supposed to be transferred to the 130th brigade of the military police ^[27] . In 2017, it is used to transfer sappers of the MPMC of the RF Armed Forces during the clearance of the liberated areas of Syria, 16 vehicles were transferred to the 98th Guards Airborne Division ^{[28] [29]} .
•   Lebanon - 45 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Slovakia - 40 Iveco LMV as of 2018.
•   Tunisia - unknown quantity of Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Croatia - 14 Iveco LMV as of 2016.
•   Czech Republic - 170 Iveco LMV as of 2016.

Armored car Iveco LMV "Lynx" at the international forum " Technologies in mechanical engineering " - 2012:

• GAZ-2330 "Tiger"
• Hmmwv
• Nimr
• Dingo atf
• Fennec

• Panther on Army Guide