Quote Originally Posted by GI Zhou View Post
They are particularly impressed with the turret as a whole; the vehicle ergonimics of the vehicle and modular arnmour upgrading. The fire control system, especially the commander's independent sight along with the sensor system itself; the smoke grenade dischargers at the rear of the turret enabling modular uparmouring; and the location of the Mk-30-2 automatic cannon and co-axial 5.56mm MG4 machine gun come in for special mention.
The armament is nothing special, rather weak indeed. A CV9035 has clearly superior firepower.
The MK30-2 uses only two cartridges;
* ABM, air burst munition - AHEAD type. Minimal bursting charge.
* APFSDS
There we have two munitions, both with serious issues. ABM has no explosive power to eat its way through a wall, for example. It can only defeat exposed soft targets.
APFSDS has the old problem of discarding sabot ammunition for IFVs; the discarded SABOTs create a dangerous zone, so it's tricky to have infantry ahead.

Modular armour: Looks fine.

Electronics and sensors; up-to-date, but I would argue that an IFV does not need a CITV at all. That's gold-plating.

Mobility: As far as I know the engine has its issues with lack of torque at low rpm.

Dismount element: Too small.


The only really, really good thing about the Puma (except probably the modular armour) is that vibrations and noise inside have been reduced by 10 dB thanks to a decoupled suspension (the suspension is mounted on a longitudinal element that's itself mounted on the hull with dampeners).