18 January 2001

Singapore Technologies Kinetics has developed the Bionix to meet the US Army's operational requirements for an Interim Armoured Vehicle for its new Brigade Combat Team (BGT). The first two examples of the Bionix infantry carrier vehicle (ICV) were completed in mid-year.

The Bionix ICV is a further development of the Bionix 25 and Bionix 40/50 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) currently in service with the Singapore Armed Forces. These versions are too heavy to be transported by a Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

The new Bionix ICV is essentially the Bionix 25 with its two-person turret armed with a 25mm cannon and a co-axial 7.62mm machine gun removed and replaced by a US-designed and -built Recon/Optical stabilised Remote Weapon Station armed with a 12.7mm M2 machine gun. Other weapons can replace this such as a 7.62mm machine gun or a 40mm automatic grenade launcher.

As demonstrated in the USA, the Bionix ICV is airportable in a C-130 Hercules aircraft with its appliqué passive armour removed. It this configuration it weighs 17 tonnes, but when fitted with the passive armour package the combat weight is increased to 24 tonnes.

Specifications

Crew: 2 + 9

Armament: 1x 12.7mm machine gun

Combat weight: 17,000kg

Power-to-weight ratio: 27.94hp/t

Power pack: Detroit Diesel 6V-92TA developing 475hp coupled to a General Dynamics Land Systems HMPT-5003EC fully automatic transmission

Length: 6.566m

Width: 2.997m

Height: 2.536m

Max speed: 74km/h

Range: 415km

Airportable: C-130 Hercules

Status

The Bionix ICV remains at the prototype stage although the Bionix IFV from which it was developed is in service with the Singapore Armed Forces.

Variants

No current variants. However if the US Army adopts the Bionix ICV there would likely be many variants.

Manufacturer

Singapore Technologies Kinetics, Singapore

Singapore Technologies Kinetics has developed the Bionix (Source: ST Kinetics)