Featuring a heavily protected driver’s cab, the
Multi A4 FSA does an excellent job of keeping its occupants
safe from typical threats encountered during deployed
operations. Capable of carrying a 16 ton-payload, the
high-performance Multi A4 FSA system platform is well
suited to a wide variety of transport roles. An efficient,
well-protected system, this robust RMMV vehicle bridges
a significant capabilities gap, enabling the German military
to supply and support the growing number of remote outposts
in Afghanistan it is currently setting up under a new
strategy.
By the end of 2010, the Bundeswehr will have around forty
of these vehicles in its inventory, with a further 60
Multi A4 FSAs to follow in short order.
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This
means that the Bundeswehr will soon have at its disposal
100 out of a total of 157 vehicles ordered thus far under
a series production contract that runs until Q1 2012. Since
October 2010, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and Rheinmetall MAN Military
Vehicles GmbH have been successfully carrying out acceptance
testing of the first serially produced vehicles, which are
based on RMMV’s 8x8 SX45 chassis. Since training is
taking place in tandem with ongoing deliveries of the Multi
A4 FSA, the vehicle will be ready to go into action abroad
early in 2010, performing a wide array of operational support
missions. In particular, the new vehicles will make a major
contribution to force protection by enhancing the security
of troops engaged in logistical and transport operations.
The “multi” in Multi A4 FSA is a German acronym
standing for “Mechanisierte Umschlag-, Lagerung-,
Transport-Integration”, i.e. “mechanized handling,
storage and transport integration”, while FSA is short
for “Fahrzeugschutzausstattung”, underscoring
the vehicle’s integral forces protection features
which, unlike in modular solutions, are built in right from
the start rather than retrofitted. The protected all-steel
driver’s cab, equipped with heated bullet-resistant
glass windows, provides the crew with effective protection
against ballistic threats, blast mines and roadside bombs.
Besides standardized, interchangeable load carriers from
its predecessor vehicle (the A3) and multifunctional containers,
the Multi A4 FSA is able to load and transport 20-foot ISO
containers without a variable loader platform completely
on its own. When mounted with a protected container for
transporting personnel (the “MuConPers”), the
Multi A4 FSA is able to transport up to 18 people with the
highest system-compatible level of protection. |
