TH-495 was an

infantry combat 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 ...

combat vehicle being proposed by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-based

Thyssen-Henschel Thyssen Henschel was a German industrial firm and defense contractor. One part of the company '' Henschel Wehrtechnik'' was acquired by Rheinmetall in 1999 and was integrated into ''Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH'' in 2000. Products * TAM medium ...

for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

countries, but it was primarily being pitched to the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

and the then government of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

in the 1990s. While designed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the TH-495 would have been produced by a newly established Thyssen-Henschel Canadian subsidiary called Bear Head Industries Limited in

Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. The proposal was scrapped by the incoming government of

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

, which opted to purchase the

LAV III The LAV III, originally named the Kodiak by the Canadian Army, is the third generation of the LAV (Canada), Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) family of armored personnel carriers built by General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada (GDLS-C), a London, O ...

from

GM Defense GM Defense is the military product subsidiary of General Motors headquartered in Concord, North Carolina; focusing on the defense industry needs with hydrogen fuel cell and other advanced mobility technologies. GM Defense projects include SURUS (S ...

instead. The lobby process for this vehicle by

Karlheinz Schreiber Karlheinz Schreiber (born 25 March 1934) is a German and Canadian citizen, an industrialist, lobbyist, fundraiser, arms dealer and businessman. He has been in the news regarding his alleged role in the 1999 CDU contributions scandal in Germany ...

and the involvement of Mulroney has led to a public inquiry The Oliphant Commission.

Design

Armament

The TH-495 is fitted with a two-man turret, armed with a stabilized T-25 25 mm caliber chain gun and coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun. One more 12.7 mm machine gun is positioned on top of the turret. The ammunition capacity is approximatively 1200 rounds; 630 rounds ready to fire and 510 in storage.

Mobility

The TH-495 is powered by a diesel engine developing 680 horsepower, and can reach speeds of 75 kilometres per hour. The TH-495 is fitted with a modern dual circuit brake system. The TH-495 has a maximum road range of 500 kilometers. The TH-495 offers quieter movement for improved stealth, greater speed over good terrain, and higher ground clearance for protection against mines and improvised explosive devices.

Protection

The basic armor of the TH-495, covering the standardization agreement

STANAG 4569 NATO AEP-55 STANAG 4569 is a NATO Standardization Agreement covering the standards for the "Protection Levels for Occupants of Logistic and Light Armored Vehicles". The standard covers strikes from kinetic energy, artillery and IED blasts. Level ...

level 4, which provides an all-round protection against 14.5x114mm. The modular add-on armor plating can be easily and quickly exchanged to adapt to the ballistic protection requirement of each variant for each mission threats situation. The TH-495 was designed to produce a very low and very compact structure to minimize radar and IR-signatures. The TH-495 is fitted with a nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) filtration system accompanied with a chemical detector and radiation detector systems. The TH-495 also uses heat-absorbing filters to provide temporary protection against

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 ...

(TIS), image intensifier and

infrared camera Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

(IR).

Variants

* Command Post Vehicle (CPV) * Infantry Section Carrier (ISC) *

Combat Engineer Vehicle A military engineering vehicle is a vehicle built for construction work or for the transportation of combat engineers on the battlefield. These vehicles may be modified civilian equipment (such as the armoured bulldozers that many nations field ...

(CEV) * Observation Post Vehicle (CPV) *

TOW Under Armour The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided") is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more powerful warhead, and a greatly ...

(TUA) anti-tank *

Air Defense Anti-Tank System The Oerlikon/ Martin Marietta Air Defense Anti Tank System (US designation MIM-146 ''ADATS'') is a dual-purpose short range surface-to-air and anti-tank missile system based on the M113A2 vehicle. The ADATS missile is a laser-guided superso ...

(ADATS) *Armored Gun System (AGS) * Ambulance * Transport

References

External links

*{{cite web, url=http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-Defence-Weekly-93/SECOND-PROTOTYPE-TH-495-COMPLETED.html, title=SECOND PROTOTYPE TH 495 COMPLETED, date=11 December 1993, work=www.janes.com Tracked infantry fighting vehicles Armoured fighting vehicles of Canada Armoured fighting vehicles of Germany