Technology and safety of the light multirole vehicle (lmv) in all markets

The Light Multirole Vehicle (LMV), the tactical vehicle with full-time all wheel drive called “Lince” by the Italian military and “Panther” by the English, continues to be an active player on the international scene.

The LMV, entirely designed and assembled by Iveco Defence Vehicles in Bolzano, avails itself of sophisticated technology whose strong points are its outstanding mobility let alone its anti-mine protection properties, proved on many occasions in its diverse peace keeping role.

Besides the Italian armed forces and Civil Protection, Iveco has supplied numerous LMVs to the armed forces of Great Britain, Belgium and Croatia. Now also the Spanish Ministry of Defence, in the area of an ambitious long term plan of improving the tactical and logistic safety, has opted for the armoured, anti-mine version of the LMV.

Added to this is a new important vehicle supply agreement for Norway and the Czech Republic and the fact that the LMV is the only light armoured vehicle on the market that has passed the stringent tests of mobility, performance and reliability demanded by the British Ministry of Defence, that will officially put the LMV in its service early in 2008. The approval tests are renowned as very arduous in which the vehicle is subjected to repetitive simulated operational activities, monitoring reliability and off-road mobility versus an elevated objective normally used for tracked vehicles.

The LMV is equipped with a Common Rail Diesel engine rated at 190 hp, connected to a 6 speed automatic gearbox with a hydrodynamic torque converter and a 2 speed transfer box mounted in common with the rear axle differential. Front and rear air-hydraulic disc brakes. Independent front and rear suspension coupled with axle load apportioning and optimised torque distribution provide for the best in class off-road mobility for this category of vehicle.

Regarding protection of the crew, the LMV is constructed using a highly innovative concept with the objective of maximising the safety of those on board in the case of explosion by anti-personal, anti-armoured vehicle or other improvised mines.

The internal safety in relation to the threat posed by mines is assured by an energy absorbing structure aided by the application of internal seating protected by armoured plating.

Thanks to the Iveco patents, the vehicle exploits a modular construction allowing a bespoke ballistic ant-mine protection application according to the perceived operational threat with the possibility to apply protection for each theatre of operation.

The LMV is a vehicle of extremely agile mobility and is able to operate in extremely diverse environments according to a range of climatic, terrain and geographical conditions; operation is permitted in a range of temperatures from -32°C to +49°C

The base version of the LMV has a maximum permitted mass of 7000 kg and a payload of 2300 kg. Thanks to its constructional versatility, the vehicle exists in 4 door long cab and 2 door short cab versions, LMV can be equipped as a command post or a protected fiel ambulance, amongst others.

The LMV is equipped with a CAN electrical network permitting data communication between the engine, transmission, ABS, etc electronic controllers in order that real-time data in support of fault diagnostic and maintenance is available. The LMV possesses, therefore high reliability and economic maintenance regimes that slim down the logistic support necessary and the relative operational management costs.