Jaguar 1A3

Jaguar 1A3: ATGM carrier

Statistics

ATGM: Euromissile HOT-2 ATGM
Ammunition Stowage: 1 ready/19 stowed
Default Ammunition: 1/19 HOT-2

Anti Aircraft Machine Gun: MG3
Ammunition Stowage: 100 ready/3100 stowed
Default Ammunition: 100/3100 7.62mm AP (NATO)

Grenades: Smoke Grenades
Ammunition Supply: 2 ready/0 stowed
Default Ammunition: 2/0 smoke grenade

Armour protection:
Frontal Turret Armour: N/A
Frontal Hull Armour: Moderate, Spaced
(no information within SB documentation)

Combat Weight: 25.7 tonnes
Engine Power: 500hp 29,4 liter MTU MB 837 V8 Diesel
Length: 6.61m
Width: 3.12m
Height: 2.55m
Top Speed: 70kph

General

The Jaguar is a conversion of the "Raketenjagdpanzer 2" (JPzRak) of the late 1970s/early 1980s. It received an add-on armor package, and replaced the French SS-11 missile with the HOT system. Ten years later the A3 configuration received a second generation thermal imager. The Jaguar 1A3 was therefore the first Bundeswehr tank hunter vehicle with both NBC protection and night combat capability; the Jaguar 2, a conversion of the "Kanonenjagdpanzer" (JPzK) was equipped with a TOW missile launcher with its built-in thermal imager which however required to open large roof hatches, rendering it useless under NBC conditions. The crew compartment contains the driver (front/left), gunner (front/right), commander (center/right), and loader (rear/right) whose job is limited to refilling the six-round revolver type magazine which otherwise provides a very fast reload time.

316 Jaguar 1 and 165 Jaguar 2 were built.

About one year after the completion of the A3 conversion the Jaguar 1 was phased out; Austria, interested in the HOT missile launchers, received 90 Jaguar 1 vehicles as a freebie (without thermal imagers though, which were procured in 2005). Since 2006 the Panzerabwehrbataillon 1 is in the process of being dismantled until 2010.

Thermal Signature

Links

Article on Dejawolf's site