Thursday, March 16, 2023

Singapore Army Visit 2023 - Interesting Hunter AFV variants on show


[17 March 2023: Updated with more pictures and comments on smoke grenade arrangement.]

The Singapore Army's annual "Army Visit", which provides a shop window into #armylife for young Singaporeans, is being held from 16 to 17 March 2023.

It was pleasure to be invited to Army Visit 2023. 

The enthusiasm and energy from the Army ambassadors at their various stations was palpable, and their professionalism was all the more remarkable considering that many of the full-time national servicemen were in school a year or so ago. How they have changed - for the better!

Instagrammer sozoplamo managed to get a rare shot of two Hunter armoured fighting vehicles side-by-side with different 30mm Remote Weapon Station configurations. Great catch! Note the different arrangements for the SDS 50mm smoke dischargers and the "cheeks" of the RWS. Callsign "33" has a new seven-per side arrangement for the smoke grenades. See his pix below.


Close up of "33". Note the cluster of seven smoke dischargers per side, which was not seen before. Compare this with the "4x1" launch version below and "2x2" variant which was first displayed in public at the Singapore Army Open House 2022. 

Launch version of the Hunter with a "4x1" arrangement on each side.

Smoke grenades are small beer. The bigger question to ponder is what other mods have Singapore's defence engineers and the Armour community made to the RWS to enhance the Hunter's firepower, accuracy, lethality, and survivability (apart from throwing more smoke, if you know what I mean). Ample room in that turret... [For those interested, my book, Pukul Habis, describes fictional scenarios of Hunters in action with all the bells and whistles fitted.]

Also noteworthy was the appearance of a "naked" Hunter AFV with its front and side appliqué armour apparently stripped off. This was the first time I had seen a Hunter AFV displayed like this. I think the lightened configuration reduces wear and tear on the automotive components during peacetime training. Happy to hear thoughts from anyone who has a different hypothesis.

Note the "2x2" arrangement for the smoke dischargers.

4 comments:

M said...

The effort SAF Armour chose to bring out 3 variants to showcase, knowing the pictures will be caught by spotters and OSINT agencies, demonstrates their intent to hint/display for observers to guess what they have conceived and possibly operationalized. :) Deterrence is the first mission of the SAF.

Mike said...

I feel this "lightened" variant could possibly for APC use on our armoured battalion troops since hunter AFV is the replacement for M113 hence the removed armour as they won't be engaging with enemy's direct armoured threat compare to say the ATGM variant with Spike missle. I am just curious if mindef have a have any plans to develop a light tank Oversion with 105mm guns like US army's MGS on stryker.

Mike said...

I feel this "lightened" variant could possibly for APC use on our armoured battalion troops since hunter AFV is the replacement for M113 hence the removed armour as they won't be engaging with enemy's direct armoured threat compare to say the ATGM variant with Spike missle. I am just curious if mindef have a have any plans to develop a light tank Oversion with 105mm guns like US army's MGS on stryker.

Mike said...

I feel this "lightened" variant could possibly for APC use on our armoured battalion troops since hunter AFV is the replacement for M113 hence the removed armour as they won't be engaging with enemy's direct armoured threat compare to say the ATGM variant with Spike missle. I am just curious if mindef have any plans to develop a light tank Oversion with 105mm guns like US army's MGS on stryker.