armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) - Types of AFVs, Types of AFVs

A generic term for combat vehicles such as tanks, armoured cars, armoured personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles which have armour protection against hostile fire.

An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a military vehicle, protected by armour and armed with weapons.

Types of AFVs

Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their intended role on the battlefield and characteristics.

Successful general-purpose armoured fighting vehicles often also serve as the base of a whole family of specialised vehicles, for example, the M113 and MT-LB tracked carriers, and the Mowag Piranha wheeled AFV.

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle, designed primarily to engage enemy forces by the use of direct fire. A modern main battle tank is distinguished by its high level of firepower, mobility and armour protection relative to other vehicles of its era. It has the heaviest armour of any vehicle on the battlefield, and carries a powerful weapon that may be able to engage a wide variety of ground targets.

See also: Tank classification

Armoured personnel carrier

Armoured personnel carriers (APCs) are light armoured fighting vehicles for the transport of infantry.

Infantry fighting vehicle

An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) is a better-armed and armoured personnel carrier, which can provide fire support to the infantry.

The first attempt to carry troops in an armoured tracked vehicle was made by the British in the First World War, a lengthened Mark V that could house a squad of infantry while still armed as a tank. During WWII there were some experiments into heavily armoured carriers, such as the Kangaroos, converted by stripping turrets from tanks. After the war, there was a shift away from half-tracks to tracked or wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs), usually armed with a machine gun for self-defence.

Modern IFVs are well-armed infantry carriers that allow the infantry inside to fight from within the vehicle. They are different from earlier APCs by their heavier armament allowing them to give direct-fire support during an assault, firing ports allowing the infantry to fire personal weapons while mounted, and improved armour.

Specially-equipped IFVs have taken on some of the roles of light tanks;

By comparison the Israeli Merkava is a main battle tank with the ability to carry a section of infantry.

Self-propelled artillery and assault gun

Self-propelled artillery are artillery pieces which have been given their own integral transport by mounting them on armoured, tracked or wheeled chassis. This lets them keep up with the pace of armoured warfare, and gives them nominal protection from counter-battery or small arms fire.

Assault guns are self-propelled artillery pieces intended to support infantry in the direct-fire role.

Tank destroyer

Self-propelled anti-tank guns, or tank destroyers, are used primarily to provide antitank support for infantry or tank units, in defensive or withdrawal operations.

Tank destroyers cannot fulfil the many roles of tanks;

Gun-armed tank destroyers have been largely supplanted by the more general-purpose tanks since Second World War, but lightly-armoured ATGM carriers are used for supplementary long-range antitank capabilities, and to replace tanks in light or airborne forces.

Tankette

A tankette is a small armoured fighting vehicle with a crew of one or two, similar to a tank, intended for infantry support or reconnaissance.

Types of AFVs

Tank (main battle tank, MBT) Armoured personnel carrier (APC) Infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) Self-propelled guns: Self-propelled artillery Assault gun Tank Destroyer Self-propelled anti-aircraft Armoured car Tankette Armoured train Aerosan

Not AFVs, but often considered together with them:

Support vehicles (not strictly fighting vehicles): Combat engineering vehicle (CEV) Armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) Armoured vehicle-launched bridge (AVLB, also called a bridge-layer) Unarmoured fighting vehicles: Technical, a civilian truck mounting a support weapon Tachanka, a horse-drawn machine gun carrier used in the Russian Civil War Katyusha, a series of truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers