The Egyptian Infantry Fighting Vehicle (EIFV), also known as Infantry Fighting Vehicle Light (IFVL), is an Egyptian modification of the M113. It is a hybrid, based on an enlarged M113 chassis equipped with the complete two-man power-operated turret of the M2 Bradley

IFV An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct-fire support. The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed For ...

. The EIFV never entered production for Egyptian Army.

History

The EIFV was originally developed by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

, Ground Systems Division under contract to the Egyptian Ministry of Defense. It was developed to be a conversion of the M113, of which the Egyptian Army has a total of 2,650, as well as an additional 1,200 AIFVs (modified M113s), but it can also be produced as new vehicles. Design activities first commenced in 1995, and the first prototype was assembled in the Egyptian Military Plant 200 where assembly of the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest ta ...

is carried out for the Egyptian Army. The first prototype was completed by Egyptian Military Plant 200 in 1996 and performance validation trials were completed in mid-1997. The EIFV has not entered production.

Description

The EIFV has three crewman, and can carry six soldiers, who enter the vehicle via a rear drop ramp. The driver is seated at the left front of the hull with the engine compartment to his right. The driver has a single-piece pop-up hatch cover which rotates over the engine cooling air intake grill when open, and is provided with four, day periscopes for observation. The commander and the gunner are both positioned in the turret itself, and a hatch is provided for the commander on the turret roof.

Armor

The M113 chassis is enlarged to accommodate several modifications and to allow for more armor to be added. The hull of the EIFV is of all-welded 5083 aluminum armour which provides protection from small arms fire and shell splinters, able to defeat armour-piercing projectiles up to 14.5 mm in calibre over a 360° arc of attack. Aluminum provides protection similar to that of steel armor while keeping the vehicle lightweight. An armor upgrade package produced by the AOI can significantly enhance the armor on the EIFV even further, allowing it to withstand armor-piercing 23 mm rounds, without sacrificing the vehicle's mobility. Optional upgrades for the vehicle include air conditioning, NBC protection and firing ports.

Maneuverability

To cope with the increased size and armor of the vehicle, a more powerful 400 hp Detroit Diesel 6V53TIA turbocharged/aftercooled diesel engine is installed in place of the original 275 hp engine on the M113, giving a power-to-weight ratio of 20 hp/ton. This is coupled to an Allison X200 cross-drive, four-speed

Hydrokinetic transmission A torque converter is a type of fluid coupling that transfers rotating power from a prime mover, like an internal combustion engine, to a rotating driven load. In a vehicle with an automatic transmission, the torque converter connects the power ...

. As a result of the longer chassis and improved engine a sixth road wheel is added (the M113 only has five). As an option the vehicle can be of 350 hp only. The modifications allows the EIFV to keep up in terms of speed and mobility with modern tanks such as the M1A1/A2 Abrams, which are used by the Egyptian Army, despite the added weight. The vehicle can traverse slopes up to 80%, side slopes of 40%, trenches 2200 mm wide, and vertical obstacles with a height of 710 mm.

Armament

The M2 Bradley turret provides the EIFV with considerable firepower on a cheap M113 chassis, and allows it to engage personnel, armored vehicles and tanks, as well as low flying targets and helicopters. It has the same fire control and stabilization features on the M2 Bradley. The armament consists of the 25 mm

M242 The M242 Bushmaster chain gun is a 25 mm (25×137mm) single-barrel chain-driven autocannon. It is used extensively by the U.S. military, such as in the Bradley fighting vehicle, as well as by other NATO members and some other nations in ground ...

chain gun with 800 rounds and an effective range of 3000 m, and a coaxial

7.62 mm The 7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the imperial unit and customary unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for ...

machine gun with 2,100 rounds. Using armor-piercing rounds, the chain gun can engage armored vehicles and tanks. The turret also has a two-tube TOW launcher, capable of launching TOW II ATGM missiles, which can destroy most tanks at a maximum range of 3750 m, enabling the vehicle to be used in an anti tank role. The only major drawback is that the missiles can only be launched when the vehicle is stationary. In addition to the two missiles in the launcher are four more missiles, stowed away inside the vehicle. The turret is standard equipped with passive IR and

thermal imaging Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video and/or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared i ...

equipment.

References