The Sedena Henschel HWK-11 was a joint project between the Mexican defense secretary (SEDENA) and Henschel Wehrtechnik GmbH of West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

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Development

The HWK-11 came about at the request from the Mexican defense secretary for a new tracked armored troop carrying vehicle for the Mexican army. The HWK was mainly German designed although Mexico had some input in the design process in the form that Mexico set certain requirements and specifications for the vehicle and Mexico also designed the basic configuration of the hull.

Production

In 1964 the first 12 vehicles were manufactured in West Germany and delivered to the Mexican Army while facilities were set up in Mexico to manufacture the vehicle locally. Initially 350 HWK-11s were to be manufactured for the Mexican military but only 40 were manufactured in Mexico before production ceased in 1966 due to lack of interest from the Mexican government.

First Version - 1965

The first versions of the HWK-11 were strictly troop transport vehicles with only a single turret mounted 7.62 MG3 machine gun that could be fired from within the vehicle. This initial version featured a 180 hp engine and a two image intensifiers, one for the driver and one for the machine gun operator.

Second Version - 1980

In 1980 the vehicle was improved by the NIMDA company with the addition of a turret similar to that used on the French AMX-10P but with more armor. This turret mounted a French M693 F1 20 mm automatic cannon, at this point the vehicle could now be considered a true infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). The upgrade also included the upgrading of the vehicles engine to the 6V-53 Detroit Diesel which produced 210 hp and allowed the vehicle to reach up to 70 km/h.

Third Version - 1993

In 1993 the vehicle was upgraded one more time, given a more powerful engine (the type of which is unknown) and new German made M113 caterpillar road wheels. The most significant upgrade to this new version is the addition of a fully enclosed turret mounting a computer controlled Rheinmetall MK 20 Rh202 20 mm automatic cannon.

Comparable Vehicles

• German Schützenpanzer Marder
  Marder (IFV)
  The Marder is a German infantry fighting vehicle operated by the German Army as the main weapon of the Panzergrenadiere from the 1970s through the present day. Developed as part of the rebuilding of Germany's armoured fighting vehicle industry, the Marder has proven to be a successful and solid...
  
  
• Soviet BMP-1
  BMP-1
  The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty 1 , meaning "infantry fighting vehicle". The BMP-1 was the world's first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle...
  
  
• United States M113 armored personnel carrier
  M113 armored personnel carrier
  The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier that has formed the backbone of the United States Army's mechanized infantry units from the time of its first fielding in Vietnam in April 1962. The M113 was the most widely used armored vehicle of the U.S...
  
  
• British FV432
  FV432
  The FV432 is the armoured personnel carrier variant of the British Army's FV430 series of armoured fighting vehicles. Since its introduction in the 1960s it has been the most common variant, being used for transporting infantry on the battlefield...
  
  

External links & References

• www.army-guide.com/eng/product990.html
• http://idd007kg.eresmas.net/art/hkw11/index.html