The Kodiak is a tracked engineer armored vehicle based on the chassis of a main battle tank. This vehicle was built following a need for the Army Engineer Corps of a robust, reliable, and cost-effective Armored Engineer Vehicle based on state-of-the-art engineering equipment using a Main Battle Tank (MBT) LEOPARD 2 chassis.
Country users: Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Singapore
Technical Data
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Armament
For its self-protection, the Kodiak is equipped with a remote control weapon station which can be armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun or 40 mm automatic grenade launcher. The weapon station can be equipped with an IR camera, a day/night camera, and a laser range-finder. Two ranks of smoke grenade dischargers are mounted on the right side front of the hull. The Netherlands and Swedish vehicles are fitted with a Kongsberg RCWS (Remote Controlled Weapon Station) armed with a .50 M2 HB MG. The commander of the vehicle operates the weapon station.
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Design and protection
The Kodiak is based on the chassis of the Leopard 2 main battle tank. The original turret is removed and replaced by a new fully enclosed armour-protected crew compartment with the driver at the front left side, the commander at the right, and one more seat back of the driver position. The Kodiak provides an high level of protection against small arms firing and land mines threats. The crew compartment is divided in two with a space in the center where the excavator is placed in running position. The Kodiak is equipped with a powerful hinged-arm excavator with different excavator tools, a dozer system featuring cutting and tilt angle settings and a double-winch system consisting of two Rotzler 9-ton capstan winches, each provided with a 200m long cable. A dozer blade is mounted at the front of the hull which can be replaced with a mine-breaching plough. By adapting the mine breaching kit to the Kodiak, the vehicle can be used as a mine breaching system. Among other things, this enables the Kodiak to cut through minefields and to erect or dismantle artificial obstacles.
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Mobility
The Kodiak uses the same chassis as the main battle tank Leopard 2 and is powered by 1,500 HP turbocharged diesel engine which assure outstanding mobility. Torsion bar suspension consists of each side of seven dual rubber-tyred road wheels with the drive sprocket at the rear, idler at the front. Th upper part of the suspension is protected by armour plates. The Kodiak can run at a maximum road speed of 55 km/h with a maximum road range of 550 km.
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Combat Equipment
Standard equipment of the Kodiak includes nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) protection system, an integrated mine protection system, and heating and cooling system in the crew compartment. Six cameras provide the two or three-man crew with a panoramic view of the vehicle’s surroundings, enabling them to switch tools and carry out a full range of combat engineering tasks without leaving the safety of the armoured fighting crew compartment.
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