The Gazelle FRV or Fast Reconnaissance Vehicle is a 4×4

infantry fighting vehicle 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 Forc ...

(IFV) built for reconnaissance on the chassis of the

Mercedes-Benz Unimog The Unimog (, ) is a range of multi-purpose tractors, trucks and lorries that has been produced by Boehringer from 1948 until 1951, and by Daimler Truck (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler AG) since 1951. In the United States and C ...

light truck developed by Zimbabwe in the early 1980s.

Development

The FRV project begun in 1981-82 as a joint-venture by the private firm Kew Engineering Ltd of Gwelo (now Gweru) to meet a requirement from the

Government of Zimbabwe The politics of Zimbabwe takes place in a framework of a full presidential republic, whereby the President is the head of state and government as organized by the 2013 Constitution. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative pow ...

for a home-built light armoured vehicle intended to the export market. After the prototype was completed, the new

Zimbabwe Defence Industries Zimbabwe Defence Industries (Pty) Ltd (ZDI) is a state-owned Zimbabwean arms manufacturing and procurement company headquartered in Harare, with a primary focus on sporting and military ammunition. In the past it has also manufactured mortar ro ...

(ZDI) demonstrated the Gazelle to the

Kenyan Army The Kenya Army is the land arm of the Kenya Defence Forces. History The origin of the present day Kenya Army lie with the British Army's King's African Rifles. In the last quarter of the 19th Century the British began actively enforcing the aboli ...

, but no orders were ever placed and production did not proceed as expected. Although the prototype was also tested by the Zimbabwe National Army's (ZNA) 1st Mechanised Battalion in Mozambique, the ZNA never formally evaluated or adopted the vehicle and eventually the whole project was discontinued.

General description

Built on a Mercedes-Benz U1100 Unimog 416 2.5 ton light truck chassis, it consisted of an armoured hull of welded ballistic steel plate incorporating one rear and two side doors. The overall design is very similar to the French

ACMAT ACMAT (''Ateliers de Construction Mécanique de L'Atlantique'', also known as ALM-ACMAT) ( en, Atlantic Mechanical Engineering Workshops) is a French manufacturer of cross-country and tactical military vehicles since 1958. Known for their reliabi ...

TPK 4.2 PSF armoured car, with exception of the glacis which had a small conventional windscreen on the right side and on the left side a projecting, box-type canopy of three framed windows of bullet- and splinter-proof glass to give the driver better lateral vision. This peculiar element of design was probably inspired by South African-made armoured vehicles such as the Buffel, which entered service with the South African Defence Force (SADF) at the time. The Gazelle had a five-man crew – driver, commander, gunner and two infantry scouts. Though a very fast and robust vehicle with a good off-road performance the Gazelle however, unlike most former Rhodesian and Zimbabwean armoured vehicles, lacked protection against

landmines A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

and had not for this single design flaw, it certainly would have been a commercial success. Is no longer being marketed.

Protection

The hull was made of ballistic 10mm mild steel plate; front windscreen and projecting canopy windows had 40mm

bullet-proof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. Fragmentation (weaponry), shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials ...

laminated glass.

Armament

A one-man turret similar to the

Mine Protected Combat Vehicle The Mine Protected Combat Vehicle – MPCV (a.k.a. 'Spook') was a Rhodesian 4×4 Infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), first introduced in 1979 and based on the body of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog light truck. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe Nat ...

(MPCV), which accommodated either 12.7mm or 14.5mm Heavy Machine-Guns (HMGs) could be fitted on the top roof though the vehicle also served without it and with other armament such as a pintle-mounted

20mm 20 mm caliber is a specific size of popular autocannon ammunition. It is typically used to distinguish smaller-caliber weapons, commonly called "guns", from larger-caliber "cannons" (e.g. machine gun vs. autocannon). All 20 mm cartridges ha ...

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...

or a FN MAG-58 7.62×51mm NATO light machine-gun.

References

*Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, ''Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80'', P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. {{Modern IFV and APC Wheeled infantry fighting vehicles Wheeled armoured personnel carriers Mine warfare countermeasures Armoured personnel carriers of the Cold War Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s Infantry fighting vehicles of the Cold War Reconnaissance vehicles of the Cold War

Development

General description

Protection

Armament

See also

References