armor
As powerful as the Leopard II – Rheinmetall presents the Lynx 120 tank destroyer
Rheinmetall did not announce anything about the specification of the main gun.
© Rheinmetall / PR
The Lynx armored personnel carrier is Rheinmetall’s export model. Now a model with a chariot gun was presented. The small Lynx is armed with it like the 20-ton Leopard 2 main battle tank.
Rheinmetall developed the Lynx after the Marder and Puma infantry fighting vehicles. The IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) was not built for the Bundeswehr, it is a tank for the international market. Instead of a “make a wish” concert of politics, the Lynx is above all a “practical” armored personnel carrier that relies on costs, reliability and proven systems.
Central to the design is the separation and modularity of the vehicle into two main parts: a base vehicle and specific mission and role equipment. This makes it easy to design different structures for the chassis. Now Rheinmetall has expanded the Lynx family to include a tank destroyer variant. The Lynx 120 manages the feat of putting a turret with the 120mm smoothbore gun on the small chassis. This chariot gun is derived from the Leopard 2’s main gun.
Secondary armament includes a machine gun mounted parallel to the main weapon. The commander can also operate an independently aiming .50 caliber machine gun. A 360° camera system with automatic target acquisition and tracking supports the crew. The Lynx 120 is also the first tank to be equipped as standard with Rheinmetall’s Active Defense System (ADS) to defend against bazookas and anti-tank guided missiles. The main gun can fire the new DM11 (HE) programmable projectiles. Rheinmetall does not write how the 120mm gun is loaded – but it can be assumed that an automatic loading system is used.
Tank with modular system
At the same time, the tank’s electronics were further improved. The Lynx is able to fight multiple targets at the same time, it should also be able to use a drone. Also interesting is a sensor-microphone system that can automatically locate enemy shooters. The Lynx has adopted the modular design of the Puma. It is relatively easy to develop different turrets for the infantry fighting vehicle and to arm the Lynx accordingly.
In order to protect the crew and to enable the infantrymen to mount and dismount in the rear, the engine is housed in the front. The protection of the crew from artillery splinters, mines and explosive devices is improved, among other things, by a false floor. However, a hit from a modern main battle tank would penetrate the armor.
No lightweight
The variants of the Lynx weigh between 38 tons and 44 tons. So the Lynx is anything but a lightweight. For comparison, the Leopard 2 weighs over 62 tons. That’s a lot more, but the Russian T-90 and T-14 Armata main battle tanks weigh only 46.5 and 48 tons, respectively, with significantly more powerful armament. The Lynx is said to reach speeds of over 65 km/h.
The IFV has already been ordered by Hungary – 200 units. Together with US partner Raytheon, Rheinmetall is applying to succeed the US infantry fighting vehicle Bradley. Although it is significantly younger than the German counterpart, it is now also hopelessly outdated.