Recently, in response to the demand for the new infantry fighting vehicle (ΤΟΜΑ) of the Greek Army, the KF-41 "Lynx" heavy infantry fighting vehicle from Rheinmetall in Germany has arrived at the Greek Army Armor Training Center in Aphrona, Greece, and the KF-41 will be tested statically and dynamically for two days at the training center.
The KF-41 "Lynx" infantry fighting vehicle was tested in Greece as part of the Greek Army's new infantry fighting vehicle project, and in 2021 the Greek Army General Staff said that the Greek Army had more than 370 new infantry fighting vehicles in demand to replace the Greek Army's old Soviet-made BMP-1 (pictured below) and M113 series armored vehicles, when Rheinmetall and Greek company EODH submitted a proposal to provide 200 "weasels" 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles and 170 KF-41 Bobcats.
After the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Greek government decided to "scrap" its 122 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles and 15,000 matching 73 mm shells to Ukraine, in addition to Greece "scrapping" 2,100 "hail" rockets, 20,000 AK-47 rifles and 3.2 million rounds of ammunition, 60 "Stinger" man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, 17,000 rounds of 155 mm shells and 1,100 RPG-18 anti-tank rocket launchers to Ukraine. The vacant infantry fighting vehicle quota in Greece will be filled by the German "Weasel" 1A3 infantry fighting vehicle, and Rheinmetall will deliver the refurbished and upgraded "Weasel" 1A3 infantry fighting vehicle (pictured below) to the Greek Army free of charge.
In addition, after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Greece revised the order quantity of the KF-41 "Bobcat", and the final order number increased to 205 units. Greece also hopes that the infantry fighting vehicle can set up a factory in Thessaloniki in northern Greece for local production. According to the plan, 3 armored brigades and 2 mechanized infantry brigades under the Fourth Army of the Greek Army, a total of 5 mechanized battalions, will be equipped with KF-41, and each battalion will be equipped with 41 infantry fighting vehicles of this type.
The KF-41 is a new foreign trade infantry fighting vehicle introduced by Rheinmetall in 2015 when Germany began to replace the "Cougar" infantry fighting vehicle, and the German Army will not be equipped with the KF-41. The KF-41 infantry fighting vehicle is extremely sci-fi in appearance, with a total length of 7.3 meters, a width of 3.6 meters, a height of 3.3 meters to the top of the turret, and a wide space inside that can carry 3 crews plus 8 heavily armed soldiers. In terms of power, the KF-41 has a pre-power, rear-cooling and exhaust system, a torsion bar suspension system, is powered by a Liebherr twin-turbocharged inline 6-cylinder D976 multi-fuel engine, and is connected to the Lenk-gear HSWL 256 drivetrain, with an engine output of 1073 hp (800 kW), up to 1140 hp (850 kW) at an outbreak, and a maximum road speed of 75 km/h.
In terms of protection, the KF-41 has a basic weight of 30 tons, and the total combat weight after the protection and firepower are "fully matched" can reach 44 tons, which is already 3 tons heavier than the 41 tons of combat weight of the T-72 tank, the KF-41 hull and turret are welded armor, the outside of the hull can also be equipped with additional armor, and the interior is designed with an anti-spalling lining layer to prevent the members of the car from being injured by the internal hull caused by shrapnel shooting. In addition, the KF-41 can further increase the armor configuration according to customer needs, so that the total combat weight of the KF-41 reaches 50 tons.
In terms of armament, the KF-41 is equipped with a new 30 mm Lance 2.0 manned turret, a 30 mm Mk30-2/ABM cannon and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, and the commander and gunner use Rheinmetall's second-generation stable optoelectronic aiming system (SEOSS-2). The "Lance 2.0" turret is equipped with a "retractable anti-tank missile platform" (RAMP) anti-tank missile pod, which can launch the "Spike LR2" anti-tank missile system to hit the target. Finally, KF-41 is also equipped with an advanced fire control system, and its fully digital system includes a fire control computer, a two-way stability system, a commander's perimeter sight, a fire control panel, an automatic shooting positioning system, a gun commander's sight, etc., as well as digital VHF and other equipment, which can enable combat units to share the battlefield situation.
According to the above indicators, the configuration of KF-41 infantry fighting vehicles is very luxurious, firepower, protection are very balanced, but the superb manufacturing process plus a variety of information equipment, making the cost of KF-41 very high, according to reports, its bicycle price reached 9 million US dollars. But even so, the KF-41 is still very popular, and it has participated in the next generation of infantry fighting vehicle bidding in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but unfortunately the two countries eventually chose the CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle as their new generation infantry fighting vehicle (pictured below), and the KF-41 also participated in the third phase of the Australian "Ground 400" (total valued at A$18.1 billion), as well as the us Army's next-generation combat vehicle NGCV bidding program.
Of course, in addition to the purchase of KF-41 infantry fighting vehicles, the Greek Army's old main battle tanks will also be upgraded with the help of Germany. At the end of May, Greece's Supreme Military Council approved a plan to upgrade 183 old Leopard 2A4HEL main battle tanks (pictured below) to the new Leopard 2A7HEL main battle tank, which will be carried out by the German company Klaus Maffei-Weigmann (KMW).