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Schützenpanzer HS-30

Welcome to the Infantry Fighting Vehicle Challenge. In this challenge, participants are asked to draw an infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). This topic was based on suggestions in the future challenge ideas thread. If you have any ideas of your own, submit them there. It was also chosen by popular vote following the Hospital Ship Challenge. Please read the design requirements and challenge rules before posting a submission.

Drawing Requirements

1. Your entry must depict a fictional infantry fighting vehicle.
2. For the purposes of this challenge, an IFV is a tracked or wheeled land vehicle purpose-built to transport infantry under armour and provide them direct fire support in battle with, at minimum, a gun or cannon at least 20 mm in calibre.
3. You may depict the crew of the vehicle and the infantry it would carry.

Challenge Rules

1. Each participant should submit a single image.
2. The image should be a Shipbucket template modified to include the participant’s art. Templates which include a data sheet are allowed.
3. Multiple views of the same object are not permitted, but the orientation of individual objects is not restricted.
4. All art should be in Soldierbucket scale (15 mm = 1 Pixel), and follow the same drawing and shading rules as official Shipbucket styles.
5. A textual description accompanying each submission is permitted, but not necessary.
6. Non-serious entries, or entries substantially deviate from the challenge requirements, are not allowed.
7. Off-topic posts will be reported to the relevant authorities.

This challenge will run until the 1st of May 2022, ending at 23:59 UTC-12 (International Date Line West).
A countdown timer can be found at this link.

A poll will be held after this date. Members of the Shipbucket community will have an opportunity to rate each submission. Please provide honest and meaningful scores for each entry. Responses which grant maximum scores to a select group of entries, and minimum scores to all other entries, will be deleted. Members of the community who manipulate the results in such a fashion may also be subject to a permanent ban. Scores will be allocated in two categories, each with a scale of 1 to 10:

• Drawing Quality - The overall quality of the drawing. One might consider detailing, shading, and accuracy.
• Design Quality -The quality of the design presented, irrespective of drawing quality. One could consider feasibility, practicality, and realism.

For those following this challenge on Discord, two issues have become apparent. First, the term 'infantry fighting vehicle' within the context of the challenge is not defined. Second, restricting entries to the first infantry fighting vehicle of a particular operator is overly limiting. Thus, I have replaced Design Requirement 2. What once read "The IFV should be the first IFV to enter service with its operator." now reads "For the purposes of this challenge, an IFV is a tracked or wheeled land vehicle purpose-built to transport infantry under armour and provide them direct fire support in battle with, at minimum, a gun or cannon at least 20 mm in calibre." This challenge is now open to any infantry fighting vehicle conforming to the new definition, not just the first to enter service with its operator. Apologies to anyone whose progress or ambition has been negatively affected by these changes.

A Leijona IFV from the Nordic Federation.
Weight: 43t
750hp diesel engine
Crew of three: Driver, Gunner and VC
Carries 8 passengers
55mm dual feed autocannon, 120 APDS, 300 HE
7.7x55mm M1946, 1200 rnds
Twin HOT-C ATGM launcher, 2rnds ready, 6 total

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Born too late to explore Earth, too soon to explore the stars, just in time to waste time on the internet.

RynnPsv 90 of Evo's Landforces depicted in 2004 During the Aalto 04 wargames of the eastern military district



Weigth: 26,5t
500 kW engine
3+7 men
1 25mm/ 2x 7.5x55 (one co-axial)

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Shipbucket mainsite, aka "The Archive"
New AU project "Aravala"

History

The AV-15 family ( Vehículo Blindado-15 in spanish ) is a series of multi purpose infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) designed and manufactured by Toledo Heavy Industries (THI) to meet the Armosan Federation's need for a mobile, modular and heavily armored vehicle capable of deploying and supporting infantry in high risk environments. It entered service with the Armosan Army in 2015 and so far over 1750 vehicles of various models have been produced.

Armament

In the standard version depicted here, the AV-15E, the main armament usually consists of a 30mm autocannon with direct storage for up to 500 rounds, 300HE rounds and 200 AP rounds feed to the gun by a dual feeding system.

Mounted to the gun's immediate right is a 7.62 mm MG5 with 2,000 rounds.

The turret can also accommodate 2 multi-purpose missile pods, one on each side, which can be armed with a wide variety of weapons, since wire / infra-red guided anti-tank missiles, to fire and forget top-attack anti-tank missiles and infrared guided air-to-air missiles.

Protection

The AV-15 utilizes modest composite armor plantings, but the angle of the hull and turret armor makes the practical protection level against AP types of ammunition much higher. The turret in not as well armored, but the main autocannon is encased in an armored box capable of resisting hits of 30mm projectiles. This reduces the chances of the enemy to achieving a firepower kill on the vehicle.

Additional armor is provided by large ERA blocks in the front and sides, as well as cage armor in the rear. This increases protection against HEAT projectiles such as RPGs and anti-tank missiles.

Automatic fire extinguishers, infrared tracking detection sensors, smoke launchers and reduced infrared signature in the exhaust area provide the AV-15 with a good survivability against modern threats.

Mobility

The AV-15 series, in its current form utilizes a V10 diesel, 11.1 litres engine with 1,088 metric horsepower (800 kW) coupled to a seven speed transmission, giving it a good power to weight ratio in comparison with many of its contemporaries.

Sensors

The AV-15E features a fully stabilized 360° periscope (PERI) with 3rd generation thermals and six different zoom stages offering a direct glass optic link to either the commander or the gunner. The gunner optics, which can be completely protected with a slide hatch, are mounted to the left of the main gun. The gunner has a thermal vision camera and laser range finder (identical to those on the PERI). This allows for both the gunner and the commander to look for and share target information. The system also allows for the guidance of two anti-tank weapons at the same time, to different targets.



AV-15E Umbra IFV from the Armosan Federation.
Weight: 32t
1088hp diesel engine
Crew of three: Driver, Gunner and Commander
Carries 7 passengers/full infantry squad
30mm dual feed autocannon, 200 AP, 300 HE
7.62 mm MG5, 2000 rnds
Twin missile launchers, 2rnds each

Mero-Curgovina / Litania, PANSOF Pangolin

History
The Mecatlacuhtlazacani-Huei Ēpōhualli-Omōme ("Tracked Combat Transport-Heavy, 62", commonly known as the MCZ-H62), was a cannon-armed armoured troop transport developed in the early 1960s that is widely considered the first Infantry Fighting Vehicle of the Divine Monarchical Order. The MCZ-H62 was designed to replace the MCZ-Z54 APC in armoured and mechanised units, where the thin armour of the 12-ton transport had proven concerningly vulnerable to the Ruanan 15.1mm VHMG that equipped a number of rebel vehicles during the Vangaelic Civil War, with the vehicle's own 8mm MG showing to be of limited utility against enemy APCs and lightly-armoured vehicles. While this was considered acceptable for second-line vehicles and forces not expected to regularly engage first-line forces in any major conflict it was considered insufficient for first-line forces expected to encounter enemy APCs armed with HMGs, and so the requirement for a vehicle capable of transporting a squad of infantry while being protected from VHMG fire and carrying a weapon heavy enough to take out light armoured vehicles or entrenched infantry was submitted to the Ordan State Armouries in 1959, with the expectation that this would replace the MCZ-Z54 in appropriate units once it entered production.

Design work began in 1959, with proposals to adapt either the MCZ-Z54 Armoured Personnel Carrier or TNT-T48 Light Tank chassis for the new vehicle, though both would ultimately be rejected as the resulting proposals would have an unacceptably small transport capacity. Instead, a clean sheet design would ultimately be chosen. The acceptable armament would also see a range of discussion; the smallest considered armament would be a 13mm Heavy Machine Gun (ultimately decided against due to its lack of existing service within the DMO), while the largest would be a 57mm Autocannon (the armament of the TNT-T48 Light Tank, at the time in the process of being replaced. This would ultimately be rejected due to concerns that any turret capable of containing the gun would take up a large section of the crew compartment). 20mm, 30mm, and 40mm autocannons would be subsequently decided between, all three being in service with different parts of the Ordan military and small enough that designers felt a suitable turret could be created for the gun. Of the three, the 20mm autocannon would ultimately be decided upon due to being powerful enough to destroy all non-tank vehicles in known Ruanan or Nagi service while being small enough to allow for large quantities of ammunition would not itself take up passenger space.

The first test vehicles would be put together by 1961 and would be submitted to the 1961 Spring Manoeuvres for testing. Weighing just over 18 tons, the prototypes would prove to be promising though not without complaints. The vehicle was equipped with the same 240hp diesel engine as the MCZ-Z54 it was replacing, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of less than 14 hp per ton and causing it to be outpaced by virtually every other vehicle on manoeuvre. Additionally, various issues would be raised with the prototypes' reliability, and the difficulty of entering and exiting the vehicle's roof hatches over the tracks, as well as the cramped nature of the crew compartment and tight confines of the rear entrance door. The design would be tweaked over the following year and resubmitted again in the 1962 Spring Manoeuvres, where the replacement of the engine with a much more powerful 400hp engine and the addition of sections of side skirting over the tracks by the roof hatches to facilitate safer embarking and disembarking (the sections designed to fold upwards during maintenance to allow access to the tracks behind them) would resolve several of the outstanding issues, though the cramped nature of the crew compartment was unchanged and the rear passage became even more cramped due to the enlarged engine bay, and additional concerns would be raised about the suspension and transmission's performance at the higher speeds now reachable with the new engine. Despite these concerns the design would be accepted for general production shortly after and the first delivery would be made in Autumn 1962.

The design would be received generally positively by the crews, though the concerns raised about the cramped conditions would be repeated as the vehicles entered general use, with many units ignoring the rear passage entirely as an egress point in favour of using the passage as a storage area, and entering and exiting the vehicle entirely through the roof hatches. The vehicle's thick armour, a full Ordan Inch (approx. 30mm) of rolled steel on the frontal and side arcs, would render the vehicle immune to most weapons carried by expected opposition at typical combat ranges at the time of its introduction; though the increasing adoption of guided anti-armour missiles and the subsequent deployment of cannon-armed IFVs in other national militaries would reduce the advantage of the vehicle during its service. Attempts would be made during the 1960s to give the MCZ-H62 the native ability to fire guided ATGMs, but various factors (including the small size of the turret and reluctance to obstruct its field of fire by mounting a missile launcher directly on the hull) would make this infeasible without negatively impacting the vehicle's transport capability.


The MCZ-H62 would first see combat during the Cetian Intervention of 1968. The Cetian President, Zuri Babatunde, was facing a long-running Krasimirit insurgency and invited Ordan forces to assist with peacekeeping efforts in the early 1960s. Ordan forces, though initially limited to advisors and special forces, soon expanded in number as Cetian forces proved unable to contain the growing Krasimirit threat. Among the forces deployed were the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Eagle Guard Division, as part of the long-standing Tlayaomachitia policy. The 2nd Eagle Guard Division, recently equipped with the MCZ-H62 IFV, soon found themselves engaging in combat during patrols in the Cetian desert and shrubland, where the vehicle's near-immunity to weapons that were not dedicated anti-armour weapons or large explosives and its heavy cannon's ability to punch through the light vehicles and improvised entrenchments favoured by the rebels saw it gain great favour among the troops, though the cramped interior meant the passengers would often travel with the roof hatches open during patrols, something that saw several squads of infantry take casualties from grenades and mortar fire during ambushes.

D Squad, 1st Platoon, 1st Company, 2nd Battalion were first deployed to Cetia in Autumn 1968 alongside the rest of the 2nd Battalion. A mechanised infantry battalion of the elite Icōme Tlayacatl Yaocuauhtli ("2nd Division of the Eagle Guard"), they were equipped with the most modern infantry equipment available to the Ordan army, including the MCZ-H62 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the recently-introduced CHT-T64 Assault Rifle and TPT-T64 Light Machine Gun, the first weapons developed with the 6.5x54mm Ruanan cartridge adopted in the aftermath of the Vangaelic Civil War to replace the 6x40mm Ahuatetz and 8x60mm Cuauhtic cartridges in general use. These weapons came as a shock to the Krasimirit rebels who, used to facing the ill-equipped Cetian forces (mostly armed with weapons from the first Great War, seized from the Tercio de Extranjeros ("Army of Foreigners", the Espanian colonial forces) following the Second Great War that led to Cetian independence), had advanced to seize control of much of rural Cetia. The Battle of Rohana in October 1968 exemplified this, with over twenty thousand rebel troops defeated in an attempt to seize the town of Rohana by three battalions of recently-arrived Ordan troops (at the time, the majority of Ordan forces deployed in the region) thanks to their mobility and uncontested air support. However, with open battle shown to be ineffective by the months after the Ordan deployment, the rebels would take to guerrilla warfare on the scrubland and deserts of rural Cetia. In response, the Ordan forces began a style of warfare known as Yaotlaixtlahuatl ("Savannah War"), that emphasised rapid movement and the seizure and denial of key strongpoints over the traditional wide-front mass warfare favoured on Akatet.

D Squad, along with the rest of 1st Company, would engage in many long-distance patrols during the course of the Intervention. Typically deploying alongside the rest of their platoon, D Squad would engage rebel forces on several occasions, and would receive decoration for their conduct after their involvement in an ambush that saw two of their platoon's vehicles disabled by an improvised explosive. Facing mortar and sniper fire from rebel forces, D Squad would take point on a charge that would see the ambush broken, over thirty rebels killed and several mortars captured, with the squad only taking two light injuries in return.

Specifications

Name: Mecatlacuhtlazacani-Huei Ēpōhualli-Omōme ("MCZ-H62")
Weight: 19.4 tons loaded
Dimensions: 6.15m x 2.64m x 2.05m (Chassis only)

Armament:
- 1x TTQ-T40 "Yecchi" 20mm Autocannon (1,500 20x110mm rounds carried)

Protection:
Hull Armour
- Frontal: 30mm RHA at 55 degrees from vertical (52mm RHA Equivalent)
- Side: 30mm RHA at 15 degrees from vertical (31mm RHA Equivalent)
- Rear: 15mm RHA at 45 degrees from vertical (21mm RHA Equivalent)
- Roof: 8mm RHA
- Floor: 8-20mm RHA (Varies upon location)
Turret Armour
- Frontal: 30mm RHA at 45 degrees from vertical (42mm RHA Equivalent)
- Side and Rear: 30mm RHA
- Roof: 10mm RHA

Mobility:
Engine: 400hp Tepoztli model 18 V12 Diesel 36 Litre engine. Rear-mounted.
Maximum Road Speed: 60kph (theoretical), 50kph (practical long-term)
Operational Range: 300km (internal fuel tanks only)
Suspension: Torsion bar, three bogie, six road wheels

Crew and Passengers:
- Crew: 3 Men (Driver, Vehicle Gunner, Vehicle Commander/Radioman)
- Passengers: Up to 8

Nowhere near the detail i'd like to include, but im strapped for time. I'll see if i can do a write up eventually.

This is my first attempt at drawing a vehicle in SoBu scale, so I decided to go with something fairly simple and flat-sided. Hopefully I did a decent job on the detailing and whatnot.

The IFV I came up with is based very heavily on a British Mk. 9 tank, but is slightly longer and wider, and has a turret based on the FT mounted to the top. It carries 24 troops, as opposed to the 30 carried by the Mk. 9 IRL, meaning she's got more comfortable positions (though still no seating, so they have to stand) and a slightly larger engine. Her primary role was to follow armored breakthroughs and carry infantry to consolidate positions captured by breakthrough and maneuver tanks, protecting them from machine gun fire along the way, with her secondary role being to support dismounted infantry, providing mobile cover and high-calibre suppressive fire. To facilitate this she's fitted with 10 to 15 mm of armor, protecting her interior from small arms fire, and an experimental 30mm fully automatic rapid-fire machine gun with 320 rounds of ammunition, and an effective fire rate of 50 rpm.

Her troop complement nominally consisted of 24 soldiers, usually comprising 2 Maneuver Sections each made of of 3 Maneuver Teams. The exact loadout varied, but typically 2 of the team members would carry standard rifles, one would carry a submachine gun, and one would carry a shotgun. Sometimes one or more of the teams would carry a marksman with a long-range rifle, but due to the usual mission objectives primarily involving close range combat, and often even storming trenches, this was rather rare. The tank itself carried a short-range radio system with receiver phones mounted both internally and on the rear of the vehicle, allowing the crew and dismounted infantry taking cover behind her to communicate with other units, and fully take advantage of Akitsukunian Decision Cycle Warfare doctrines.

The vehicle itself is classified as an assault tank, as per Akitsukunian naming conventions, though in more traditional nomenclature it would be described as an IFV, or at least an APC with IFV-like characteristics - though it's worth noting that pure, unarmed APCs were only rarely used by the Akitsukunians, who always preferred to have their infantry carrying vehicles stick around to support the dismounted troops.

The name of the tank is the Type 6 Senshi, meaning Warrior, and she was introduced to service in early 1918. Her first use in combat was during the Second Battle of Prexton Valley, where 14 such Type 6s carried infantry behind a larger armord offensive and successfully held and consolidated the objectives captured by the breakthrough tanks in front. During this battle 3 of the tanks were disabled by enemy fire, and 58 of the 392 crewmen and infantry involved were severely injured or killed. Nevertheless they proved themselves to be quite effective, and continued in service throughout the rest of the war and the immediate aftermath until being replaced by the Type 13 in 1924.

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"Oh, absolutely not. Trinitite may be an eldritch being that breaks the laws of physics, but even she can't replicate the insanity that is German Engineering!" - PyrrhicSteel on whether Trinities' machine shops can make a new gasket for a crane
“Yes, strategy,” she replied to Evelyn’s withering look. “Because I am merely an amateur. I cannot talk logistics.” - Seven Shades of Sunlight, in a latter chapter of Katalepsis

ATI-58 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and infantry squad (1959)



The ATI-58 was introduced as the Westlandian Army's first infantry fighting vehicle in 1959. It carried a 20 mm cannon and had space for up to ten people, though in practice it would normally only carry eight or nine. It saw extensive use in Westlandian South Wubbeland and along the border of the People's Republic of Wubbeland, including by the army's border guard units as shown here. The ATI-58 was decently well-armoured and the crews generally liked them, though they were mechanically unreliable and by the 1970s they could no longer keep up with the main battle tanks. They were gradually phased out and moved into auxiliary duties in the late '70s. All are now retired.

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I am colourblind, so please let me know if my colours are off.