FV103 SPARTAN

FV103 Spartan

Crew: 3

Main Armament 1x 7.62 mm General Purpose Machine Gun

Maximum speed: 60mph

The FV103 Spartan tracked APC was not developed in isolation, but as a part of an armoured combat vehicle family headed by the Scorpion armed with a 76 mm gun. There are seven main members in the family, all produced by Alvis Vehicles, in which the Spartan was intended to be a specialist combat team carrier.

Since the British Army has reorganized, many Spartans have become available from their former employment so are now widely issued as general-purpose liaison and patrol vehicles. The chassis and suspension of the Spartan are shared with all other members of the CVR(T) family, as is the Jaguar petrol engine (later replaced with Cummins diesel) but on the Spartan the aluminium hull is enlarged to a box configuration to accommodate the driver, team commander/radio operator and the vehicle commander who also operates the 7.62 mm machine gun mounted over his cupola; the machine gun can be aimed and fired from within the vehicle.[1]

[1] http://www.military-today.com/apc/fv103_spartan.htm