In today's hybrid mission scenarios, combat forces must be able to respond to various threats in a situation-adapted manner. With this in mind, Rheinmetall has developed the Turret Independent Secondary Weapon Assembly (TSWA; Turmunabhängige Sekundärwaffenanlage in German) for the Bundeswehr's Puma infantry fighting vehicle. The TSWA provides the mechanized infantry with a modern effector for scalable close-range protection that can be operated under armour protection.
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(Picture source: Rheinmetall)

This massively increases the IFV's ability to dominate not only in operations in the urban environment and in stabilisation operations, but also across the entire operational spectrum. The TSWA will be presented to a larger international audience for the first time at Eurosatory 2022. A demonstrator will be on display at the stand of PSM GmbH, the manufacturer consortium of the Puma IFV.

The TSWA is a remotely controlled weapon station mounted at the rear of the Puma IFV. It consists of the components mount, launcher unit and target optics. Modern manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing enable a light weight. The modular design facilitates maintenance, repair and spare parts supply. The TSWA is characterised by simple operation and high reliability. It can be operated independently of the other on-board weapons. The system is controlled via tablet computer by the soldiers in the rear fighting compartment. The targeting optics include a high-resolution video camera, a thermal imager and a laser range finder.

The TSWA can fire highly effective lethal and non-lethal ammunition - currently up to 20 different types. A maximum of 18 grenades - e.g. irritant or flashbang ammunition – are available as non-lethal effectors. They can be used 360° around the vehicle. Up to 18 additional 40mm grenades (low velocity or medium velocity ammunition) can be loaded into the outer rotating drum magazine as lethal effectors. With these, the crew can cover the area of 180° behind the vehicle. The TSWA is air burst capable. It can program appropriate air burst ammunition so that it can engage targets behind cover. The cadence is up to three rounds per second.

The weapon system is to be available for adaptation to the Puma infantry fighting vehicle after completion of the verification process in 2023.