Blurring The Lines

Infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers are moving closer in terms of what traditionally kept them apart.

- Stephen W. Miller

Armies are placing greater emphasis on mechanisation. Not only are they receiving more armoured vehicles but the types of vehicles are increasingly reflecting the broader worldwide trends. Several of the largest combat vehicle acquisition programmes are occurring in this region. Foremost in these are infantry combat vehicles which are being delivered from both outside and within the region. Australia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Peoples Republic of China each have major infantry vehicle projects underway. This piece will examine some of these.

APC or IFV

Armoured combat vehicles provide mobility and protection. For the infantry this takes the form of wither the Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) or Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). These two are generally differentiated primarily by the armament that they carry. The APC are meant to simply carry infantry - preferably a section or squad of 8-12 soldiers - under protection from one point to another on the battlefield until they need to dismount. APCs are not intended to directly engage opposing forces as a primary mission and as such traditionally have been equipped with, at best, a heavy machine gun. In the past this usually took the form of a manned open weapon station with the gunner sometimes protected by a gun shield or armoured cupola. Including a manned turret would take up interior space and reduce the troop load.