FV432

FV432
An FV 432 armored personnel carrier of the 7th Brigade Royal Scots, crossing into Kuwait from southern Iraq during Operation Granby.
Type	Armoured personnel carrier
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1963–present
Production history
Manufacturer	GKN Sankey
Specifications
Mass	15 tons (15.3 t)
Length	5.25 m (17 ft 3 in)
Width	2.55 m (8 ft 4 in)
Height	2.28 m (7 ft 6 in)
Crew	2 + 10 troops
Armour	12.7 mm max
Main armament	7.62 mm L7 General Purpose Machine Gun
Secondary armament	smoke dischargers
Engine	Rolls-Royce K60 multi-fuel 240 hp (180 kW)
Power/weight	15.7 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion-bar, 5 road wheels
Operational range	580 km (360 mi)
Maximum speed	52 km/h (32 mph)

The FV432 is the armoured personnel carrier variant in the British Army's FV430 series of armoured fighting vehicles. Since its introduction in the 1960s, it has been the most common variant, being used for transporting infantry on the battlefield. At its peak in the 1980s, almost 2,500 vehicles were in use.

Although the FV432 was to have been phased out of service in favour of newer vehicles such as the Warrior and CVR(T), 500 were upgraded to extend their service into the 2020s.^[1]

In light of the army's need for additional armoured vehicles in the Afghan and Iraqi theatres, the Ministry of Defence announced in August 2006 that an extra 70 vehicles would be upgraded by BAE Systems in addition to the 54 already ordered as part of their "force protection initiative". The improvements took the form of an engine upgrade, a new steering unit and a new braking system, as well as improvement in armour protection to a level similar to that of the Warrior.

Plates lined with Kevlar have been added to the bottom hull to provide better protection against improvised explosive devices. It is intended that these FV432s will free up the Warrior vehicles for provision of reserve firepower status and/or rotation out of theatre. The updated version is called the Bulldog.