(Europa) Polnische Heeresstreitkräfte

[Quintus Fabius]

Ein neuer polnischer Schützenpanzer wurde jetzt vorgestellt:

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First rendering from OBRUM's Borsuk IFV design released
A computer-generated rendering of the current stage of the Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) development has been released by the Polish state-owned OBRUM. The Borsuk will replace the BWP-1, which happens to be the local designation for the Soviet BMP-1.

The vehicle is fitted with the ZSSW-30 turret from HSW. This is equipped with a Mk 44 Bushmaster II autocannon from Alliant Techsystems (ATK), a dual-missile launcher (probably designed for Spike-LR, which is already operational with the Polish Army), two banks of four smoke grenade launchers each, an independent commander's sight located on the roof and the GOC-1 Nike gunner's sight from the Polish company PCO on the left of the gun (hidden behind an armored cover when not in use). A co-axial UKM-2000C machine gun is also installed.
The Mk 44 Bushmaster II gun is an electrical driven chain gun, usually chambered in 30 x 173 mm. There is however an option to swap barrels for a 40 x 180 mm "Super Forty" supershot round with enhanced penetration (by 30% according to older presentations from the development) and payload.

The GOC-1 Nike sight for the gunner incorporates a Polish thermal imager, a set of color cameras and an eyesafe laserrangefinder. The commander is provided with a GOD-1 Iris sight from PCO, incorporating a thermal imager, a daylight camera and a laser rangefinder. The Janus sight is also protected by an armored cover at the sides and rear.
The turret has been criticized by Polish defence magazines due to ATK Bushmaster II gun is incompatible with programmable ammunition from other manufacturers (such as Rheinmetall) and the Spike missile integration being still work-in-progress.

The vehicle in this configurations will be rather light and is meant to be amphibious. Indicators for this are the rubber band tracks and the water blades. Unlike on most amphibious vehicles, the splash guard seems to be mounted at the lower hull front and probably will be elevated before amphibious operations. The drivetrain includes six roadwheels and two return rollers per side. Like most IFVs the Borsuk will have a front mounted engine.

The current configuration of the Borsuk hull is a lot less than ideal. The driver is only provided with one single sight block, while the commander has two smaller sight blocks. Aside of the gunner's sight in the ZSSW-30 turret, the gunner has no other means of observation. This means that the visibility for the driver, commander and gunner is limited; specifically the driver seems to have an unnecessarily small field of view. While cameras and digitial optronics (like the gunner's and commander's sight) can increase the visibility, the problem withsuch optics is that they are not fail proof (once the power delivery is gone, they won't work) and easier to damage than conventional armor glass/transparent ceramic vision blocks.