IAC - Integrated Armour Cabin

The need for logistic vehicle crews to be protected from ballistic, fragmentation and mine attacks has grown with the increasingly asymmetric nature of wars and other operational scenarios. In order to protect crews of MAN vehicles deployed on military operations, MAN and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann developed a modular-armour crew-protection kit. The kit was designed to be fitted onto the external surfaces of a cab.

The almost cubic shape of the MAN X-cab with its even surfaces makes an external armour kit comparatively easy to install. It also leaves the internal cab space and operational interface untouched. With the radiator mounted behind the cab and no linkages or tubes penetrating the protected front panel, the risk of “ballistic holes“ is minimised.

As a result of its experiences in the Balkans and for special operations, the German army has considerably increased its requirements for mine blast protection for the MAN 8x8 high mobility hook-loading vehicle. This led MAN and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to design and develop a fully integrated armoured steel cab. This cab provides anti-tank mine protection at level 3b (8 kg TNT midsize under-truck), ballistic protection at level 3 and adherence to the German army’s requirements to meet STANAG 4569 standards. The result is the world’s first battlefield support truck with a military payload of 16 tonnes and a protection level second to none.

It is important to recognise that if logistic vehicles are operating in an environment hostile enough to warrant such protection, the fewest and shortest journeys possible should be made, hence this high payload/high mobility vehicle. In particular, recent events in the Middle East have shown the need for an armoured support vehicle that protects crews from roadside bombs and other high explosives. Such vehicles should also give crews the ability to respond effectively to ambushes or hostile and armed crowds while transporting heavy payloads.