Fox Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle
Encyclopedia
The FV721 Fox Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Wheeled)
(CVR(W)) was a 4x4 armoured car deployed by the British Army
as a replacement for the Ferret
scout car and the Saladin Armoured Car
. The Fox was introduced into service in May 1973 and withdrawn in 1993/4.
armed with a 30 mm L21 RARDEN
cannon
which was manually fed with 3 round clips; 99 rounds were carried. A coaxial L37A2 7.62 mm machine gun was mounted with 2,600 rounds. The weapons were not stabilised. This turret was also equipped with a set of 2 4-barrelled smoke dischargers. The vehicle had a combat weight of 6.75 tonnes and was designed to be air-portable. The Fox had aluminium
armour
and was fitted with a flotation screen. It lacked protection against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Powered by a Jaguar
4.2 litre 6 cylinder petrol engine, the Fox was one of the fastest vehicles of its type.
The Fox was typically attached to armoured and mechanized infantry battalions. The Fox's all-welded aluminum armour hull and turret protected against medium and heavy machine gun fire and artillery splinters. The driver viewed through a integral periscope/hatch cover that lifts open while the turret holds the commander with gunner to his right and loader to his left.
- Without preparation, the Fox can ford one metre of water and a flotation screen can be erected in two minutes.
- Air portable, three Foxes can be carried by one C-130 Hercules aircraft, two of which can be parachute dropped.
Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Wheeled)
The Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle , abbreviated to CVR was a line of vehicles to replace the Ferret Armoured Car in British Army service.Two variants were planned:...
(CVR(W)) was a 4x4 armoured car deployed by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
as a replacement for the Ferret
Ferret armoured car
The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret Scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company, Daimler...
scout car and the Saladin Armoured Car
Alvis Saladin
The Saladin is a six-wheeled armoured car built by Alvis, and fitted with a 76mm gun.Used extensively by the British Army, it replaced the AEC Armoured Car that had been in service since World War II.-History:...
. The Fox was introduced into service in May 1973 and withdrawn in 1993/4.
Description
It had a crew of three and had a low profile rotating turretGun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
armed with a 30 mm L21 RARDEN
RARDEN
The L21A1 RARDEN is a British 30mm autocannon used as an combat vehicle weapon. The name is a contraction of the Royal Armament, Research and Development Establishment and Enfield...
cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
which was manually fed with 3 round clips; 99 rounds were carried. A coaxial L37A2 7.62 mm machine gun was mounted with 2,600 rounds. The weapons were not stabilised. This turret was also equipped with a set of 2 4-barrelled smoke dischargers. The vehicle had a combat weight of 6.75 tonnes and was designed to be air-portable. The Fox had aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
and was fitted with a flotation screen. It lacked protection against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Powered by a Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
4.2 litre 6 cylinder petrol engine, the Fox was one of the fastest vehicles of its type.
The Fox was typically attached to armoured and mechanized infantry battalions. The Fox's all-welded aluminum armour hull and turret protected against medium and heavy machine gun fire and artillery splinters. The driver viewed through a integral periscope/hatch cover that lifts open while the turret holds the commander with gunner to his right and loader to his left.
- Without preparation, the Fox can ford one metre of water and a flotation screen can be erected in two minutes.
- Air portable, three Foxes can be carried by one C-130 Hercules aircraft, two of which can be parachute dropped.
Variants
- FV722 Vixen - Un-turreted version, was planned and trialled but never entered production. An example of the Vixen is held at the Bovington museum.
- Polecat - There was at least one trial version of a Fox chassis mounting the standard UK GPMG one-man turret (as used on the FV432FV432The 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...
APC) and possibly one with a larger one man turret mounting an M2M2-In computers and electronics:*Fast Universal Digital Computer M-2, an early Russian digital computer *Memory Stick Micro , a removable flash memory card format*Modula-2 , a computer programming language...
.5in heavy MG. Both types were proposed for use in Ulster during the 1980s as patrol vehicles. - Panga - Export version for Malaysia, fitted with Helio FVT-800 machine gun turret. Prototype only.
- Fox-Scout - Escort version with 7.62mm machine gun (MAGMAGIn cryptography, MAG is stream cipher algorithm developed by Rade Vuckovac. It has been submitted to the eSTREAM Project of the eCRYPT network. It has not been selected for focus, nor for consideration in Phase 2; it has been 'archived'....
or Chain gunChain gunA chain gun is a type of machine gun or autocannon that uses an external source of power, rather than diverting energy from the cartridge, to cycle the weapon, and does so via a continuous loop of chain similar to that used on a motorcycle or bicycle. "Chain gun" is a registered trademark of...
) and 4,500 rounds. Prototype only. - Fox 25 - Fitted with a 25 mm Chain Gun in a Sharpshooter turret. Crew: 2. Prototype only.
- Fox MILAN - Tankhunter version with MILANMILANMILAN " is French and German for "kite bird") is a European anti-tank guided missile. Design of the MILAN started in 1962. It was ready for trials in 1971, and was accepted for service in 1972. It is a wire guided SACLOS missile, which means the sight of the launch unit has to be aimed at the...
Compact Turret. Prototype only. - SabreSabre (tank)Sabre is a variation of the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance , featuring the turret from a Fox reconnaissance vehicle mounted on the hull of a Scorpion....
- The turret of the Fox was remounted on the chassis of an FV101 ScorpionFV101 ScorpionThe FV101 Scorpion is a British armoured reconnaissance vehicle. It was the lead vehicle and the fire support type in the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance , CVR, family of seven armoured vehicles...
hull to create a new tracked reconnaissance vehicle, the SabreSabre (tank)Sabre is a variation of the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance , featuring the turret from a Fox reconnaissance vehicle mounted on the hull of a Scorpion....
. Cheaper to produce than the similar FV107 ScimitarFV107 ScimitarFV107 Scimitar is an armoured reconnaissance vehicle used by the British Army. It is very similar to the FV101 Scorpion but mounts a high velocity 30 mm L21 RARDEN cannon instead of a 76 mm gun. It was issued to Royal Armoured Corps, Armoured Regiments in the Reconnaissance role...
, one Hundred and Thirty Six Sabres were created. Modifications included; redesigning the smoke grenade dischargers, replacing the standard machine gun with a L94A1 chain gun and domed hatches to improve headroom for the commander and gunner. They were assigned to reconnaissance platoons of armoured and mechanised infantry battalions before being withdrawn from service in 2004. - FV432/30 - A small number of Fox turrets were added to modified FV 432s in the mid-1970s for the Berlin BrigadeBerlin BrigadeAfter the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, Allied forces occupied West Berlin. This occupation lasted throughout the Cold War...
, but this project was abandoned after 13 were converted.
Sources
- Jane's Armour and Artillery 1993-1994, Jane's Information Group, ISBN 0-7106-1074-2
- Taschenbuch der Panzer Edition 7 (1990), Bernard & Graefe Verlag, ISBN 3-7637-5871-2
- Terry Gander, The Modern British Army (1988), Patrick Stephens Limited, ISBN 0-85059-919-9
- Terry Gander, Britain's Modern Army (1995), Patrick Stephens Limited, ISBN 1-85260-428-X