The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced on its website on Friday, Aug. 16, that it had codified and approved the Buffalo mine protected armored engineering vehicle for delivery to its armed forces.
The Buffalo is considered to be one of the safest and best protected military vehicles in the world, manufactured by the US company Force Protection, Inc, a division of General Dynamics.
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It was designed by building on the mine protection concepts of South Africa’s 1980s vintage Casspir four-wheeled mine-protected vehicle that saw service in Angola, Namibia and Mozambique. The Buffalo has six run flat wheels arranged in a two-plus-four geometry. Both vehicles use a V-shaped monohull chassis as primary protection, by directing the force of any blast occurring under the vehicle away from the occupants along with special shock-absorbing seats.
Additional protection is provided by 15 centimeter (6 inch) armored glass and a composite ballistic armor crew and passenger capsule that is further reinforced by bulletproof grilles along with infrared technology to detect the presence of dangerous ordnance. It can also be equipped with BAE Systems’ LROD slat cage armor for additional protection against RPG-7 high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds.
The Buffalo MPV level of protection is classed as level III according to the NATO STANAG 4569 standard. It can withstand an explosion equivalent to 20 kilograms of TNT.
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The engineering version of the vehicle is fitted with a 9-meter (29.5 feet) long, articulated manipulator arm with an integrated camera, sensors and a claw which can be operated from within the armored hull to remove mine, improvised explosive device and unexploded ordnance.
In between the first, limited numbers of the A1 version of the Buffalo coming into service with the US Army in 2004, and its final production of the much-modified A2 model in 2014 almost 800 had been built by Force Protection, Inc. In the intervening 10 years, major improvements were made to its rear axles, engine, transmission, and suspension, along with additional upgrades to the heating, ventilation, and its air conditioning (HVAC) system.
Currently, engineering versions are in service with the armies of Canada, France, Italy, Pakistan, the US and the UK.
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