(Land) Schützenpanzer Puma (ex Panther, ex Igel)

[Quintus Fabius]

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IDEX 2015: Dynamit Nobel Defence details ERA solution




Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND) is showcasing its ERA solution that is on order for the German army's new Puma AIFV during IDEX 2015. DND's head of business development Herbert Weisshaupt explained that while DND has been working on ERA solutions for many years, development did not go smoothly. For some time, it had to be put on hold as army officials did not see ERA's advantages fearing instead that personnel might get hit by fragments if an ERA box would go off. However, DND has demonstrated this fear not to be justified using special materials and insensitive explosives that require a hit by a hollow charged weapon to go off. Recent trials have shown that its ERA protective system is capable of coping with hits of small and medium caliber rounds up to 30mm including APFSDT rounds without going off. In 2014, tests were also conducted during which tiles were hit by EFP IEDs and molotov cocktails as part of the system's qualification. In neither case did this result in a detonation. At the Meppen test range in Germany, DND's ERA tiles underwent further testing when they were shot at with 155mm rounds by a PzH2000 howitzer. One hundred and fifty kilograms of explosives were also detonated in close proximity of the ERA tiles. In both cases, the tiles remained unscathed. Also part of the trials were air transportability tests. Weisshaupt told MT that during a deployment the ERA sets and vehicles would be transported in separate aircraft with the boxes being mounted on the vehicles in theatre.