Mowag Eagle (1992)

Light Armoured Vehicle, 485 Eagle I, II, III.

The Mowag Eagle is a famous, modern lineage of Swiss 4x4 wheeled armoured vehicle from Mowag, which ended owned by GDELS (General Dynamics European Land Systems). The vehicle could be summarized as a "Swiss Humvee". It was designed in the last years of the cold war as a replacement for current light 4x4 vehicles of the Swiss Army, as a national variant of the Humvee by Mowag, and evolving along the needs of the army and the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq; The production, with the Duro made with Germany, resulted in the MRAPs of the Mowag VI and V family, vastly different from the Eagle I-III, as they shared little in common. This post is about the Eagle I, II and III but will be updated for the Eagle IV and V, quite different...

Development

After the success that was the Piranha Family in the 1970s, Mowag (Motorwagenfabrik AG), founded in 1950 and known for its trucks, became THE big name in Switzerland for armoured Vehicles after the Panzer-58 to 68 lineage of Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette, the last of these were built in 1979, after which the state-own company only existed to maintain the park, until the government choosed the Leopard 2 as its next main battle tank. But for lighter, wheeled armoured car, Mowag was providing a whole range from 4x4 to 8x8 vehicles, with the 6x6 mostly popular with the Canadians and the 8x8 with pretty much everybody else. It was a huge export success.

However in 1999, Mowag was acquired by General Motors of Canada. Since January 2004, it entered the General Dynamics European Land Systems group because of its parent company. From 2012, it employed 900 highly skilled personnel at the facility, but announced to cut down 270 jobs. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany started to look at placing orders by May 2022, and by the summer of 2023 it started a massive recruitement, going up to 750 highly skilled personnel at Kreuzlingen by 2026, and is very much still a Swiss company despite the ownership, since 2010, traduced into its name, General Dynamics European Land Systems – Mowag GmbH.

Eagle and Duro

If the Piranha legacy went on until the present day with the Piranha V sice 2015, the Swiss back in 1989, already looked at a new, light 4x4 armoured vehicle mostly for reconnaissance. Of course MOWAG was the company expected to be in charge. However, if Mowag already designed in the past 4x4 vehicles using basically the same hull as the Piranha, it's a completely different vehicle that the Swiss Army looked at the end of the cold war. Until then, unprotected laison vehicles like the Mercedes G-class were used for reconnaissance and it was clear that a better protection was required in the future. Their idea was simply to copy the American Humvee to gain time.

The Swiss army ordered 230 with soft top G4 as primary general purpose carrier from 1985 gradually replacing a fleet of Willys Jeeps, Steyr-Puch Haflinger and Pinzgauer in the liaison and transport role. They were unarmed and unprotected, and lost a competition against the Saurer F006 from local manufacturer Monteverdi, or its 230M variant. From 2014, the Steyr Daimler Puch 230 GE is currently replaced by the Mercedes-Benz G 300 CDI 4x4 hardtop, 3,200 vehicles on order. But these were still unprotected, neither against NBC threats and light arms fire.

So it was decided to gain time to adopt directly the HMMWV (High-Mobility-Multipurpose-Wheeled-Vehicle) chassis, with Mowag developing the hull, making it an NBC-tight, air-conditioned, armor-protected vehicle. Soon it was made available in several configurations and with varying levels of armor protection plus a wide assortment of armaments for export. The first step in this design was the Eagle, retrospectively called the Eagle I. The Eagle II in 1997 and Eagle III in 1999 were essentially the same. The next Eagle IV and V however were based on the much larger Swiss-German Duro, and were MRAPs.

Main variants

Eagle I (1992)

The original Eagle, based on the chassis and running gear of the Humvee. Also purchase by the Danish Army also purchased the Eagle I, used notably in the 2003 war in Iraq, and the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The lightweight EAGLE 4x4 was desifned for reconnaissance, surveillance, liaison, escort, border patrol and police, and is the composite of a modified Hummer "heavy" chassis (developed for armoured versions) HMMWV whereas the armoured superstructure was designed and manufactured by MOWAG as was the armoured observation cupola MBK2, also developed and manufactured by MOWAG. This its combat weight is 4,8 ton for a one ton payload, while meeting STANAG 4569 level I protection, STANAG 4569 Level I mine protection. Production from 1992 was 154 vehicles for Switzerland and 36 for Denmark.

Eagle II (1997)

The 4.1 ton Eagle II was developed to integrate the changes wanted by the Swiss Army for a second batch and this it uses a different chassis and running gear that of the Humvee ECV, but all the rest remained the same as for the Swiss Eagle I. Its combat weight, initially 4.1 tons, reaches 5,500 kg in combat, including 1,4 ton of payload. Bu it is protected the same, meeting STANAG 4569 level I protection against small arms and mines. 175 produced for the Swiss Army only. Not exported.

Eagle III (2000)

This vehicle was developed as an Artillery Forward Observation Vehicle (AFOV) on the Humvee ECV chassis for observation, reconnaissance and patrols, but also target survey and acquisition, day and night under ballistic and NBC protection. The vehicle has a completely new rear compartment for two operators and a highly sophisticated optronics suite, in combination with a land navigation system. Target data is provided to rear echelon Artillery Fire Command by online data transmission. Working stations were given comfy seats, with better air ventilation system, a raised roof and panoramic windows, and for electronics, in addition to the INTAFF commanding system and observation mast with CCD-TV, IR, and a laser range finder its combat weight reaches 8,400 kg degrading performances (same power plant as for the Eagle II). 120 were ordered in 2003. Deliveries Complete.

Eagle IV/V to come next.

Design

General Layout

The Eagle was given a mobility and performances aligned on the original Hummer vehicle with a squarosh hull that recalls the Hummer in proportions but is sitll significantly different, NBC-tight (collective protection against radiation, gas and bacteriologic agents) and the roomy interior is for "only" four individual upholstered seats, more comfy than in the regular Hummer. Dimensions remained close to the original Hummer except for the width, increased by approx. 100 mm.

Windows are slighty smaller, made of bullet-proof glass, and the front windows is also smaller and well protected. Instead of the original Humvee's bay for rapid ingress of troops and payload, the back is fully enclosed and comprised two small benches for four more troops and their equipments, while the central flatbed could received one ton of payload as seen above. The hatch is lifting up for access and exit, like in any saloon car, the other memebers of the crew using the four doors.

The middle of compartment is also the place where a machinègunner could stand and man the on-board armament. The vehicle thus has built-in stowage compartments for individual equipment and its Observation cupola, 360° rotating, had a thermal imaging unit for all-round observation in an NBC secure vehicle by day/night, and under all weather conditions.

Protection

The ballistic protection counts on composite armour plates mounted to the inner face of the aluminium plates. Thus like the original Humvee, the Mowag Eagle is also a composite of aluminiuù and alliages. As seen above, the Eagle I had STANAG 4569 Level I for standard small arms fire and mine blasts. Same for the Eagle II and III, but it was gradually improved on the next ones, Eagle IV and V.

Powertrain and Performances

The Eagle uses the basic US powertrain, and thus, combines the same baseline GM/Detroit V8 6.5l N/A (L57) turbo-diesel engine coupled with a Hydramatic 4L80E Transmission, with an engine power output of 160 hp of 119 KW. The tranmission has 4 forward gears and one reverse. Performances for the Eagle I are a power/mass ratio of 32.1 hp/t (23.9 kW/t) at GVW, a torqu 393 N/m (290 lb/ft) on a permanent 4x4 drive, a transfer case using the Low-high New Venture Gear Type 242, a Torsen (self-locking) differencial, on independent hydraulic dampers for suspensions, for a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) legal and 125 km/h (78 mph) max on road, and for a range of 450 km (280 mi) for a capacity of 94.6 L (25.0 US gal)) at economy ride.

It is amphibious, able to cross 76 cm of water without preparation, climb a 50% gradient, 30% side slope, a 50 cm step. The transmission also could be transmitted to the forward winch, with a towing capacity of 400 kgs. The Eagle II is more powerful, with a L65 Destroit 6.5 L engine, now pushed to 190 hp (140 KW), for a 34.5 hp/t (25.7 kW/t) ratio, 515 N/m (380 lb/ft) torque for for 120 kph on road. And it is capable of climbing a 60% gradient. Both vehicles has the same ground clearance of 400mm. As for tactical mobility the Eagle is air-transportable by C-130 aircraft or helicopter. This was essentiallmy the same for the heavier Eagle III.

Armament

It depends of the version chosen. The baseline vehicle's cupola could mount either a MG.3, a GMPG, or Minimi, all 7.62 mm NATO, or a US M2HB Browning heavy machine gun. The cupola also usually mounts a set of three smoke projectors either sides.