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Rheinmetall in Düsseldorf and has
overseen the Puma project for the past
three years.
The objective was to create a vehicle
capable not only of keeping up with
the Leopard 2 main battle tank at
home, but of being airlifted to remote
areas of operation – ideally in all climate
zones. The bulk of development
work took place at PSM’s parent companies
– RLS and KMW – who assigned
some 200 developers to the
project. Equipping the Puma with an
entirely new protection concept was a
prime objective. “We aimed to create
space for a nine-man crew, with maximum
protection from landmines and
rocket propelled grenades”, stresses
Peter Hellmeister.
This led to the novel idea of placing
the crew in the chassis. “Because the
turret has to be remotely controlled”, explains
Hellmeister, “the infantry squad
isn’t separated from the turret crew.” As
a result, only the one compact compartment
requires maximum protection.
Moreover, this eliminates the dead
space that naturally occurs when a
round turret is placed on a rectangular
vehicle. Importantly, nobody sits in the
turret, the most exposed and vulnerable
part of an armored vehicle. These fundamental
concepts ensure a high de-
gree of passive protection, especially
since the entire crew in the fighting compartment
can maintain visual contact at
all times, fostering clear communication
– a crucial factor in combat.
“We’re also setting new standards
when it comes to the power pack,”
states Hellmeister, a nuclear physicist
by training. The problem is simple: the
bigger the engine, the greater the space
requirement and the heavier the vehi-
Newsline
Germany’s biggest procurement project right on schedule
The Puma IFV is ready to pounce
(Continued from page 6)
cle, inevitably leading to a decline in
the power-to-weight ratio – something
of a vicious circle. Compared with analogous
engines, however, the Puma’s
power pack is significantly smaller and
lighter. The power pack fills up 92 percent
of the forward area of the vehicle, a
triumph of space economy.
The Puma’s pioneering anti-landmine
protection also merits special
attention. The double-layered
floor of the vehicle is specifically
designed to absorb the shockwave
from an explosive blast. As
Hellmeister explains, “The shockwave
doesn’t reach the crew, because
the inner floor is designed
to give the lower floor sufficient
room to move in the event of a detonation.”
This effectively thwarts
the physics of an explosive blast.
A glance at the interior of the
demonstrator vehicle reveals an
added force protection feature:
the crew sit on nylon slings rather
than floor-mounted seats.
This kind of passive force protection
thinking extends to every component
in the IFV. The automatic turret naturally
contains the ammunition supply,
which reaches the Puma’s twin guns
via an ammunition feeding system. “If
the turret takes a hit and its armor is
penetrated, the ammunition stored
there burns off, damaging the turret
but not the fighting compartment. The
crew remains unharmed, because the
two parts of the vehicle are completely
separate”, explains Peter Hellmeister,
highlighting one of the Puma’s key
safety features.
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The new IFV’s running gear goes a
long way in reducing physical strain on
the crew during operation: it is effectively
decoupled from the hull, to
which it is linked by elastic connectors.
Just as in standard automotive
applications, hydropneumatic suspension
elements serve as shock absorbers
– a novel development in armored
vehicle engineering. This lowers
the noise level in the Puma to 95
decibels, significantly less than the
120 decibels typical in such vehicles
today. “Since the decibel scale is logarithmic,
for the troops this means a
90% reduction in audible noise and vibration
in the vehicle,” declares
Hellmeister, noting that this translates
into less stress during operations. “It’s
important to remember that we’re talking
about the soldiers’ workplace
here”, points out the PSM managing
director.
The running gear also fits nicely into
the underlying concept of passive safety.
Because the torsion bar suspension
typical in tanks is dispensed with in the
Puma, the empty space above the lower
floor (which a mine blast explosively
deforms and pushes toward the fighting
compartment) can be reduced. A
further special feature: the running
gear supports are hollow. Not only
does this save weight, it creates space
for fuel tanks, which are located in var-
Set to roll of in December 2005: The Puma IFV is the German military’s largest, most important procurement project at present.
ious compartments in the two running
gear supports. Here, too, “safety first”
is the watchword: if one of the storage
tanks is damaged and the fuel catches
fire, it burns outside of the fighting
compartment, posing no danger to the
crew. If worse comes to worse, the IFV’s
fuel supply system can switch to emergency
operating mode, providing the
Puma with an adequate degree of mobility.
(Continued on page 8)
Composing: René Dahlmanns