Puma (IFV)

The Puma is a German infantry fighting vehicle, currently in the pre-production stage. It will replace the aging Marder IFVs, from 2010 through 2020. Governing company is PSM Projekt System Management, a joint venture of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall Landsysteme. The Puma is one of the best-protected IFVs, while still having a high power/weight ratio.


Project history
The Puma (formerly also named Igel (hedgehog) and Panther) started as a follow-up project to the German mid-1990s "NGP" project (Neue Gepanzerte Plattformen, "New Armored Platforms"). Its aim was to collect ideas for a common base vehicle that could be used for a variety of tasks including that of the APC, IFV, air defense and replacing and assisting the MBT in the frontline combat role. The NGP project was ended in 2001.
The lessons learned were incorporated into the new tactical concept named neuer Schützenpanzer ("new IFV") in 1998. In 2002, the German Army (Heer) placed an order for the delivery of five pre-production vehicles and their logistics and training services at the end of 2004. On November 8, 2007 a budget of €3 billion to acquire 405 Pumas was agreed upon.
Other nations pursue similar developments emphasizing commonality, modularity and rapid deployability based on a comparable doctrine which was also a subject of discussion within NATO. Examples of these are the American FCS vehicles, the British FRES and the German-Dutch Boxer MRAV.

General description
The Puma, while externally not very different from existing IFVs, incorporates a number of advantages and state-of-the-art technologies. The most obvious of these is the incorporated ability to flexibly mount different armour (see below for details). Another feature is the compact, one-piece crew cabin that enables direct crew interaction ("face-to-face"; like replacing the driver or gunner in case of a medical emergency) and minimizes the protected volume. The cabin is air conditioned, NBC-proof with internal nuclear and chemical sensors and has a fire suppressing system using non-toxic agents. The engine compartment has its own fire extinguishing system. The only compromise of the otherwise nearly cuboid cabin is the driver station, located in a protrusion in front of the gunner, in front of the turret.

One measure to achieve the one-piece cabin is the use of an unmanned, double-asymmetrical turret (see photo): while slightly off-center turrets are common in IFVs, the Puma's turret is on the left-hand side of the vehicle, while the main cannon is mounted on the right side of the turret and thus on the middle axis of the hull when the turret is in the forward position.

The outer hull (minus the turret) is very smooth and low to minimize bullet traps and general visual signature. The whole combat-ready vehicle in its base configuration will be air transportable in the Airbus A400M tactical airlifter. Its 3+6 persons crew capability is comparable to other vehicles of comparable weight like the US American M2 Bradley IFV, and the same as in the Marder.