Dear Fred,
the vehicle you describe is the "Spähpanzer 2 LUCHS" (Lynx). It is an
8x8 armoured reconaissance vehicle with a 20 mm Rheinmetall MK20
machine cannon and a 7.62 MG3 machine gun.
The engine is a Daimler-Benz V10 Diesel (multifuel) with 390 horsepowers.
The vehicle ist 90 km/h (56 mph) fast and is able to swim. The total
weight is 19.6 metric tons, the vehicle is 7.7 metres long, 3 metres
wide and 2.84 metres high (including turret).
It has a crew of four (driver, commander, gunner, radio operator).
The radio operator sits in the rear of the vehicle and looks backwards.
He is also the driver for reverse driving. The vehicle can drive
backwards (nearly) as fast as forwards.
It is a very silent vehicle. The noise it makes when driving is
not louder than a car.
The LUCHS is used by the german tank reconnaissance batallions in
the light companies. The heavy companies have LEOPARD MBTs for
reconnaissance.
I was a radio operator in the signal platoon of the first company
of the first tank reconnaissance batallion in 1977. We had a lot
of LUCHSes in the batallion. It was always surprising, how silent
and fast this relatively big vehicle was.
If you want, I can forward some scanned pictures of the LUCHS to you.
Regards
Andreas
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