Denel’s RG41 8×8 adds firepower with new Modular Combat Turret

[Zarvan]

Denel’s RG41 WACV is shown with the company’s two-person turret. Source: Christopher F Foss

The Denel Vehicle Systems RG41 8×8 Wheeled Armoured Combat Vehicle (WACV) has been fitted with the Denel Land Systems (DLS) two-person turret that was originally developed for the South African Army’s incoming Badger 8×8 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).

Badger is to replace the South African Army’s currently deployed Ratel 6×6 IFV.

The two-person turret is referred to as the Modular Combat Turret (MCT) and is armed with a 30×173 mm dual-feed cannon and a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun (MG). Either the commander or gunner can lay the weapons on target, as both can see target images and fire control information on flat panel displays at their weapon stations.

Turret traverse and weapon elevation is all electric, with manual back up controls and an automatic target tracker (ATT) fitted as standard.

There are other versions of the MCT, including one armed with a DLS 60 mm breech-loaded mortar and another armed with two Ingwe laser-guided missiles.

This family of turrets has also been adopted for some variants of Malaysia’s Gempita (AV-8) 8×8 IFV that recently entered service.

A typical RG41 crew when fitted with a one person turret would consist of 11 people: driver, vehicle commander, gunner, section commander, and seven dismounts. The dismounts are seated in the rear and provided with four-point seat harness.

The RG41’s gross vehicle weight (GVW) is 28,000 kg, of which 9,800 kg is the payload (weapons, ammunition, crew, and fuel), according to Denel.

The baseline RG41 has STANAG 4569 Level 2 ballistic protection, but is upgradable to Level 4 or 5. Mine protection is to STANAG 4569 Level 4A/3B, but upgradable to Level 4B.

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