A photo on the Russian social network 'VK' from December 11, 2023, suggests that the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces might be using German-made Wiesel 1 armored vehicles. While there's no official confirmation of Wiesel 1 being supplied by Germany, the newspaper 'Focus.de' reported on April 28, 2022, that Germany was considering supplying Wiesel 1 and Wiesel 2 tracked airborne armored vehicles to Ukraine.
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German army's Wiesel tracked airborne armored vehicles (Picture source: Russian Social Media)
The picture of the Wiesel 1, displayed on the social network 'VK,' shows it equipped with a MILAN anti-tank missile container. Originally, the German anti-tank version of the Wiesel 1 was armed with an American TOW anti-tank guided missile launcher.
The Wiesel 1 is a family of airborne tracked armored vehicles that were developed to meet the requirements of the German Army. Between 1989 and 1992, the German Army took delivery of a total of 345 Wiesel 1 vehicles armed with a Raytheon Systems Company TOW ATGW launcher or a Rheinmetall 20 mm cannon.
The Wiesel 1 is based on a tracked chassis and uses a unique design offering a light armored with a weight of less than 3 tons, a length of 3,54m, a width of 1.82 m, and a height of 1.82m. The hull of the vehicle is of all-welded steel construction providing the crew with protection against the firing of small arms of 7.62mm caliber and artillery shell splinters.
The Wiesel 1 was delivered to the German army in two variants, the Wiesel 1 armed with one 20mm automatic cannon and the Wiesel 1 anti-tank armed with one launcher tube for the anti-tank guided missile TOW. The Wiesel 1 with the 20mm cannon has a crew of two including a driver and gunner.
The Wiesel 1 cannon is fitted with a one-man Rheinmetall turret E6-II-A1 armed with a 20 mm Rheinmetall MK 20 Rh 202 dual-feed cannon with 160 rounds of ready use ammunition, 60 rounds on the left side and 100 rounds on the right side, allowing the gunner to select the type of ammunition required to engage different targets. The weapon can be elevated from -10 to +45º and traversed 55º left and right. Elevation and traverse are manual and the gunner aims the weapon via a Zeiss PERI-Z-16 periscopic sight; a passive night sight is also available.
