AEV 3 Kodiak | |
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Type | Armoured engineering variant of a main battle tank |
Place of origin | Germany Switzerland |
Service history | |
In service | 2009–present |
Used by | See Users |
Wars | War in Afghanistan |
Production history | |
Designer | Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH and RUAG Defence; Krauss-Maffei Wegmann are technical design parent of the base platform |
Designed | from 2002 |
Manufacturer | Rheinmetall (local assembly/conversion is an option if not new-build) |
Unit cost | Leopard 2A6 base platform: US$5.74 million (2007) |
Produced | 2007–present |
No. built | 42 (plus 44 on order 2021) |
Specifications | |
Mass | Military Load Classification (MLC) 70 |
Length | 10.2 metres (400 inches) |
Width | 3.54 m (139 in) (transport width) |
Height | 2.6 m (100 in) (without machine gun) |
Crew | 2 or 3 |
Armour | welded steel, with a package of spaced multilayer passive composite armour |
Main armament | a RCWS (Remote Controlled Weapon Station) with options ranging from 5.56 mm light machine gun to 40 mm grenade launcher can be fitted at the commander's hatch |
Engine | MTU 873 Ka-501 liquid-cooled V12 twin-turbo diesel engine 1,500 PS (1,479 hp, 1,103 kW) at 2,600 rpm |
Power/weight | 21.4 PS/t (15.7 kW/t) (approx. based on MLC 70 classification) |
Transmission | Renk HSWL 354 automatic with 4 forward and 2 reverse gears |
Suspension | Torsion bar suspension |
Fuel capacity | 1,100 litres (242 imperial gallons; 291 US gallons) in interconnected tanks |
Operational range | 500 km on roads (estimated) |
Maximum speed | 68 km/h (42 mph) forward; 31 km/h (19 mph) reverse |
The AEV 3 Kodiak is a Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT) based armoured engineering vehicle that can be used for a wide variety of battlefield engineering, infrastructure and support roles. These roles can include, but would not be limited to, minefield breaching, route denial, dozing and digging tasks, and the erection or demolition of obstacles. The vehicle was originally developed for a Swiss Army requirement by the consortium of Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (Germany) and RUAG Defence (Switzerland).[1][2][3]
English nomenclature for the vehicle is now AEV 3 Kodiak, while German is Pionierpanzer 3 (PiPz 3) Kodiak. Depending on user or reference source the AEV 3 Kodiak may also be referred to as Gepanzerte Pioniermaschine Kodiak, AEBV (Armoured Engineering and Breaching Vehicle), Armoured Engineer Vehicle 3 Kodiak, Ingenjörbandvagn 120, or the L2-AEV.[1][3][2]