Some years ago, the then Thyssen Henschel developed a complete family of wheeled armoured fighting vehicles as a private venture called the TH-200 (4 × 4), TH-600 (6 × 6) and the TH-800 (8 × 8). Details of these were given in Jane's Armour and Artillery 1997-98.

Development work on the TH-200 and TH-800 stopped some years ago and Thyssen Henschel subsequently became Henschel Wehrtechnik and development work on the TH-400 continued.

With the acquisition of Thyssen Henschel by Rheinmetall DeTec, the vehicle became the H-400 and, in early 2000, the former company became known as Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH.

More recently the designation of the vehicle has been changed yet again to the R-400.

As of mid-2004 there were no plans for the R-400 to enter quantity production. The vehicle has however been used as a testbed for other Rheinmetall company subsystems.

The hull of the R-400 is of all-welded steel armour construction with the driver's compartment at the front, fighting compartment in the centre and the power pack at the rear.

The steel armour provides protection from small arms fire, shell splinters and medium machine gun fire. For improved protection passive, possibly explosive reactive, armour is available as an option.

The driver is seated in the centre and has a single-piece hatch cover that opens to the right. In front of this are three day periscopes, the centre one of which can be replaced by a passive periscope for driving at night.

The three person (on the prototype) power-operated turret is in the centre with the commander and gunner on the right and the loader on the left. The commander has a raised cupola with a single-piece hatch cover and observation day periscopes. In front of the cupola is the commander's stabilised panoramic sight.

The gunner is seated in front of and below the commander and has a roof-mounted sight and a sighting system coaxial with the 105 mm main armament. The loader has a single-piece hatch cover that opens to the rear and a roof-mounted day periscope.

Main armament comprises a 105 mm rifled gun, which is fitted with a fume extractor and thermal sleeve with a 7.62 mm machine gun being mounted coaxially to the left. Mounted either side of the turret is a bank of four 76 mm electrically operated smoke grenade launchers that fire forwards.

The rear-mounted diesel power pack can be quickly removed as a complete unit for field replacement.

The R-400 incorporates a new type of suspension, consisting of a double trailing arm independent wheel suspension, the kinetic properties of which have considerably improved mobility in rough terrain.

The negative lead angle of the springing reduces the vertical and horizontal acceleration when driving rapidly across obstacles so that the physical load on the crew is lower when compared to vehicles equipped with rigid axles.

Standard equipment includes power steering and a central tyre pressure-regulation system that allows the driver to adjust the tyre pressure to suit the type of terrain being crossed, even when the vehicle is moving.

The R-400 is now being promoted as a modular concept capable of taking advantage of the wide range of turrets, weapon systems, fire-control systems and other subsystems available within the Rheinmetall DeTec Group of which Rheinmetall Landsysteme is now a key part.

• Rheinmetal Landsysteme turret armed with 105 mm smoothbore gun. Prototypes of the R-400 had a 105 mm rifled tank gun

• Rheinmetall Landsysteme E4 two-person turret with internally mounted, fully stabilised 20 to 30 mm automatic cannon

• Rheinmetall Landsysteme E8 one-person turret with internally mounted cannon up to 30 mm in calibre. There are various stabilisation and fire-control options

Weapons now being offered include:

• Mauser 30 mm MK automatic cannon

• Mauser/Oerlikon Contraves 35/50 mm weapons systems

Fire-control systems being offered include:

• Rheinmetall Defence Electronics AOZ

• Rheinmetall Defence Electronics SEOSS

• Rheinmetall Defence Electronics FAUST

• Rheinmetall Defence Electronics MOLF

Command and control systems include:

• Rheinmetall Defence Electronics ACE (Army Command and Control)

Self-protection systems include:

• Modular self-protection system MASKE from Buck Neue Technologien

Development of the R-400 (6 × 6) vehicle is complete and production can start on receipt of orders.