UPGRADING THE WEISEL: Germany’s remarkable little Weisel armored vehicle gets another life extension — and will serve at least until 2030.

The vehicle was designed in the 1970s.

Wiesel is smaller and lighter than armored American hummers. Moreover, Wiesel is very small with a height of 1.9 meters (six feet) and 3.55 meters (11.4 feet) in length. The small size makes it easier to conceal itself behind terrain obstacles. This is extremely important considering the fact that its armor provides protection only against rifle (7.62mm) fire and shell fragments. Furthermore, Wiesel is famous for its excellent cross-country capabilities provided by special tracks and an 87 HP five-cylinder Volkswagen turbodiesel engine. Wiesel 1 top speed is about 70 kilometers an hour on roads but it can keep up with infantry in rough terrain. This is what made it so useful in Somalia, the Balkans and Afghanistan. Irregular troops found the 20mm autocannon armed Wiesel demoralizing and often fatal because the 20mm cannon was accurate and fatal when fired from two kilometers away. Another advantage was that Wiesel would often show up in remote areas where the enemy did not expect to see armored vehicles. Wiesel was air transportable using CH-47 or CH-53 helicopters. Both can accommodate two Wiesels one internally and one via sling load under a helicopter. In this way, they could be sent to assist special operations troops in remote areas.

This is an informative post in StrategyPage’s How to Make War section.