Rheinmetall Showcases New Lynx KF 41 Infantry Fighting Vehicle at Eurosatory

Rheinmetall has showcased its next generation Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) at the on-going Eurosatory 2018 exhibition in Paris for the first time.

The Lynx KF41 family of vehicles utilise a common drive module and a 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, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

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, claims Rheinmetall.

Enhancing the vehicle’s flexibility, the sub-systems of the Lynx KF41 are modular and adaptable. The Lynx KF41 features a digital backbone with a generic open architecture that allows integration of new mission systems, while the entire survivability system is modular and upgradable to allow the vehicle to cope with 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.

The Lynx KF41 features the latest generation of propulsion technology with an 850 kW (1140hp) Liebherr engine and a Renk transmission. 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 has a power-to-weight ratio of 26 hp/t, while still leaving up to six tonnes of reserve payload. 

The modular survivability systems of the Lynx provide flexibility for customers to cope with the wide variety of threats faced across the spectrum of conflict. The ballistic and mine protection packages can be easily exchanged, even in the field if needed, while the full spectrum of threats have been taken into account, including roof protection against cluster munitions. The Lynx KF41 with Lance 2.0 has been designed not only for passive and reactive systems, but also for an active protection system to defeat rocket-propelled grenades and antitank guided missiles. 

The Lance 2.0 turret is the next generation of the in-service Lance family and has been developed to improve its suitability for an IFV. The Lance 2.0 features enhanced protection for critical subsystems against kinetic and fragmentation threats, improving system survivability during close combat. 

The next enhancement is the integration of the new Wotan 35 electrically driven cannon that fires Rheinmetall’s 35x228mm ammunition family. 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.