Infantry mobility vehicle
Encyclopedia
ATF Dingo
The ATF Dingo is a German heavily armored military infantry mobility vehicle based on a Unimog chassis with a V-hull design, produced by the company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann . It is designed to withstand land mines, rifle fire, artillery fragments and NBC-threats. ATF stands for...
, AMZ Dzik, AMZ Tur, Mungo ESK
Mungo ESK
The Mungo ESK is an air-transportable, armoured multirole transport vehicle of the German Army for its Airmobile Operations Division and Division Special Operations....
, and Bushmaster IMV
Bushmaster IMV
The Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle or Infantry Mobility Vehicle is an Australian-built wheeled armoured vehicle. It was originally designed by Irish company Timoney Technology Ltd under a licence agreement with Perry Engineering in Adelaide; that licence was sold, with permission granted by...
. This term also applies to the vehicles currently being fielded as part of the MRAP program
MRAP (armored vehicle)
A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected is a family of armored fighting vehicles design led by the United States Marine Corps in use by the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations Forces with the goal of surviving IED attacks and ambushes - prompted by US deaths in Iraq...
.
IMVs were developed in response to the threats of modern warfare, with an emphasis on crew protection and mine-resistance. Similar vehicles existed long before the term IMV was coined, such as the French VAB and South African Buffel
Buffel
The Buffel is a mine-protected APC used by the South African Army during the South African Border War. The Buffel was also used as an armoured fighting vehicle and proved itself in this role...
. The term is coming more into use to differentiate light 4x4 wheeled APCs from the traditional 8x8 wheeled APCs. It is a neologism for what might have been classified in the past as an armored scout car
Scout car
A scout car is a of military armored reconnaissance vehicle, capable of off-road mobility and often carrying mounted weapons such as machine guns for offensive capabilities and crew protection...
, such as the BRDM
BRDM
BRDM is an initialism for Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina, , literally "Combat Reconnaissance Patrol Vehicle". The BRDM is a four wheeled amphibious vehicle which is very lightly armoured by today's standards. Both versions were produced in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc...
, but the IMV is distinguished by having a requirement to carry dismountable infantry. The up-armored M1114 Humvee variant can be seen as an adaptation of the unarmored Humvee to serve in the IMV role.
Design
IMVs generally feature a v-hullV-hull
The V-hull is a type of vehicle armor design used on wheeled armored personnel carriers , infantry mobility vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles...
shaped underbelly with additional crew protection features such as four- point seat belts and seats suspended from the roof or sides of the vehicle. Most feature a remote weapon system in place of a crew-served weapon system.