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Wolverines! [1]

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Date: 2023-04-06  

Ukraine has inked a deal with Poland for Poland to build 100 new Wolverine M1M infantry fighting vehicles for the Ukrainian military.

The Wolverine (or “Rosomak” in Polish) is a Polish-built version of the Finnish Patria AMV. Poland purchased a license from Finland to begin producing the Wolverine variant in the early 2000’s.

So, what’s a Wolverine?

It’s an 8-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle similar to the US Stryker, with 3 crew members and room for 8 infantry. It sports a 30mm Bushmaster II chain gun (the same as what the Stryker carries) for it’s main weapon and a 7.62 mm machine gun for a secondary weapon. The main gun is quite capable of dealing with other IFV’s and similar light to medium armored vehicles.

The M1M model sports added steel-composite armor from the original Wolverine model, which was designed to be amphibious. The upgraded armor removes the amphibious ability due to the added weight, but greatly increases protection for crew and passengers — which is probably a more than fair trade. Polish M1M models used in Afghanistan were able to withstand hits from RPG rounds and continue to operate on more than one occasion.

The Wolverine is capable of traveling up to 60 mph, has a 500 mile range, is equipped with thermal optics, and has a passive laser detection system connected to 6 smoke grenade launchers to detect if the vehicle is being targeted by laser-guided anti-armor systems and respond automatically by deploying the smoke grenades to confound the laser targeting system.

It appears that Poland is building these new for Ukraine rather than sending any from an existing supply, so don’t look for these to be joining the Ukrainian forces in short order. Late this year/early next appears to be the expected time frame for delivery.

Ukraine is using funds provided by US and EU aid military aid packages to make the purchase, which have a price tag of about $4 million apiece.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/6/2162483/-Wolverines

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