Thanks Jigs for the inof. Further information on ACV 300 posted below
FNSS ACV-300 (TIFV)
Notes: The ACV-300, also known as the TIFV (Turkish Infantry Fighting Vehicle), entered service in the early 1990s. The ACV-300 is based on the European AIFV, and is the same in many details as that vehicle. It is not, in the strictest sense, an Infantry Fighting Vehicle, despite its name, as it has neither heavy caliber armament nor antitank missiles. The ACV-300 is being partially replaced/supplemented by the ACV-S; this process started in the late 1990s. In addition to Turkey, the ACV-300 is used by the UAE (the ACV-S version only), Malaysia, and the Philippines. Several APC-type version exist as well as a mortar vehicle and an ATGM carrier as an ARV. Virtually all components of the ACV-300 are license-produced in Turkey (or in Malaysia, in the case of Malaysian vehicles; they are built by Pekan). The Turkish have nearly 1700 of these in service, plus 665 ACV-Ss; the UAE have 136, and Malaysia has 211 (in a bewildering array of variants). The Filipinos have only seven. The Jordanians have ordered the ACV-S, but have are not due to receive their first until late 2010. ACV-300s and ACV-Ss have seen combat service in Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo with UN peacekeeping forces fielded by Turkey, and in Turkey (and possibly Northern Iraq) against Kurdish rebels.
The ACV-300
The ACV-300, in general, uses a hull similar to the AIFV, though the armor is a bit better than the AIFV, and some additional attention is paid to belly armor. The hull front and sides incorporate spaced armament with ceramic sandwich panels. The engine remains a Detroit Diesel 6V-53T developing 300 horsepower, along with a fully automatic transmission along with a conventional driver’s station. The ACV-300 is fully amphibious, propelled in water by its tracks. The sides of the hull have two firing ports each, and the rear has two firing ports. The seats for the troops extend down the center of the vehicle facing outwards, and the two rear seats are facing towards the rear of the vehicles. The rear of the vehicle has a powered ramp with a door in it.
The primary differences in the different members of the ACV-300 family are primary in the turrets (or the lack thereof), and to some extent the internal equipment resulting from these differences. The basic, and most numerous in the Turkish forces, APC version is the ACV-300 AAPC (Advanced Armored Personnel Carrier). This version uses a light 1-man turret armed with an M-2HB heavy machinegun as primary armament and a coaxial MAG machinegun. This turret supplies the commander/gunner with basic night vision equipment, fire control equipment including a ballistic computer, and one-plane stabilization. The turret has a cluster of three smoke grenade launchers on each side. Two the left of the turret is a hatch for the vehicle commander; he has no weapon and no night vision devices, but his hatch has vision blocks to the front, right, and rear. The driver is in the front left, in front of the commander’s position. The Malaysians use a version of this vehicle which is equipped only with the M-2HB and a greater ammunition supply for the M-2HB. The Malaysians also employ a version of this vehicle armed with a Mk 19 AGL instead of an M-2HB.
The ACV-300 AIFV is similar to the European AIFV, but is equipped with a one-man turret mounting a 25mm autocannon. The commander’s position remains. Early Turkish versions used the French Giat M-811 autocannon in a turret almost identical to that of the AIFV, but later versions use the BAE-designed Sharpshooter turret equipped with the M-242 Bushmaster ChainGun and having a slightly-lower, more angular profile incorporating spaced armor similar to that used in the hull. The Sharpshooter turret also adds a laser rangefinder and gives two-plane stabilization for the main gun and coaxial machinegun. The turret has a cluster of four smoke grenade launchers on each side. Turkish versions have by 2010 all been upgraded to use the Sharpshooter turret. The Turkish, Malaysians, UAE, and Filipinos all use this version, though the Filipinos have only six of them (along with one ARV version).
The ACV-300 – Additional APC-type Variants
The ACV-300 CPV is the command version of the ACV-300; externally, it is an ACV-300 AAPC or AIFV with the turret removed and replaced with a commander’s cupola that is armed with an M-2HB, sometimes surrounded with AV2 gun shields. The interior is quite different, with the sorts of things one might expect to find in a CPV – one short-range, two medium-range, and two long-range radios, one of which is data-capable. The ACV-300 has a ruggedized laptop computer as well as a battlefield management system (though not with the vehicle state system), with a linked GPS system with an inertial navigation backup. It also has a map board, various plotting and office-type supplies, and various storage drawers. The side firing ports are sealed off, though the rear firing ports remain. The CPV has four seats for the radio operators and command crew, and a folding table with three folding chairs. An attached tent can be unfolded at the rear to increase working space. In an armored box atop the vehicle is a 5kW APU to power the equipment when the engine is turned off. This generator can be removed and dug in to dampen noise, attached to the vehicle with a slave cable. The commander’s station of the CPV has a periscopic sight which includes an image intensifier and a thermal imager, as well as a laser rangefinder. (They’re not useable, however, as aiming devices for his machinegun.) The CPV’s smoke grenade launchers are on either side of the upper glacis plate, in clusters of three each.
The ACV-300 AMV is an armored ambulance version. As such, it has space in the rear for a medic and two stretcher cases plus four seated patients. It also has a small refrigerator for perishable medical supplies, a defibrillator, two sets of oxygen administration kits, splint kits, and the equivalent of 20 personal medical kits and two doctor’s medical bags. Like the CPV, the AMV’s smoke grenade launchers are on either side of the upper glacis plate, in clusters of three each. The AMV is normally unarmed.
