The Grasskat APC
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“The Grasskat, what can you say? No fuss, no pretension, it just gets on with the job.”
Catherine Wellon: Field Notes and Personal Diaries, Volume 1 University of Victoria Press, 2207 The only member of the Redkat family to be funded as a private venture, the Grasskat sets out to be a vehicle that does the job required and nothing more. There is no glamour in the Grasskat line, little in the way of headlines in the military press, but there are sales, and there are profits, and to the shareholders of NWV those are as important as anything else.
FV8462 Grasskat
Armoured Logistics Vehicle/Ambulance FV8467 Grasskat-N Special Liaison Vehicle
Variants The baseline Grasskat-IFV retains some pretensions to
being considered an IFV, but the austere design paradigm means that
the Class A1 turret of the Redkat has been replaced with the Class A2
mounting a 25mm Autocannon with co-axial VR5, provision is made for
a missile system although none is fitted as standard and the Verlet
Defender PDS is available as an option. Crew consists of driver, commander
and gunner, the commander does not have an independent sighting system
and so cannot acquire new targets while the gunner engages the current
one. 8 dismounts can be carried and are provided with firing ports (two
to each side, one to the rear). Azania has procured large numbers of
Grasskat IFVs, license built by Armscor, to equip its second-line Territorial
Commandoes and paramilitary forces and it was in Azanian hands that
the Grasskat first saw combat during the Invasion, serving on both Nyotekundu
and Joi.
The FV8461 gives up any pretension to being considered
anything other than a battle taxi, mounting
the Class B2 turret with only the VR5 MG and VR8 30mm AGL (the B1 turret
is available as a customer specified upgrade). The commander fights
the turret and the elimination of the gunner allows the capacity of
the vehicle to be increased to ten dismounts at some reduction in personnel
comfort. Sales have been made to several of the Indian States.
FV8462 Grasskat
Armoured Logistics Vehicle/Ambulance The FV8462 is an unarmed version of the FV8461 available
configured either as an armoured logistics vehicle (Grasskat-L) with
a cargo-roller loadbed, or as an armoured ambulance (Grasskat-A) capable
of carrying two litter cases and three seated casualties. Further customisation
into specialist variants is left to the customer. Armscor in Azania
has produced a complete range of workshop and recovery variants for
the Azanian Army.
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