On October 17, the German Defense Agency (BAAINBw) has announced it’s tender to replace the Fennek scout car of the German Army. With the Fennek’s expected service life ending in 2030, the Army has set it’s sight on a new generation scout vehicle (SpähFz NG) to replace the curernt fleet of 220 reconnaissance vehicles. Following the naming traditions of previous german recon vehicles such as the Fennek or Luchs (Lynx) the name of the SpähFz NG will be Korsak.
The BAAINBw tender outlines some of the relevant details for the procurement project. The overall fleet requirement is stated 252 vehicles, with 92 vehicles as an initial order. The rest will likely be contracted as options inside a framework agreement.
The vehicle is required to feature a 25mm cannon main armament, an (imaging) sensor suite, the D-LBO Battle Management System (BMS) and radios, and protection meeting STANAG 4569 standards including multi-spectral smoke launchers. An amphibious capability will also make a comeback with the Korsak. Other features like an Anti-tank missile armament or different sensors have also been mentioned in the capability list, but are not explicitly listed in the tender.
A delivery schedule has also been drawn up, the procurement authorities expect two pre-series production vehicles available for evaluation by 2026, with the 90 remaining vehicles to be delivered in 2027 and 2028 respectively. The contract also includes the provision for a 20 year supply and maintenance agreement for the fleet.
In the face of the rather tight development schedule, all expected competitors are likely to join the race with modified variants of existing vehicles. The potential candidates include:
- Fuchs Evo, Rheinmetall Defense
- CAVS 6×6, Patria
- Pandur Evo, GDELS
- Super AV, Iveco/Hensoldt