YPR-765 – The Standard IFV for the Royal Netherlands Army Developed From The Successful M113 APC

In the military service of The Royal Netherlands Army, a lot of infantry fighting vehicles were used, one of which was YPR-765.

Introduce

In 1967, under contract to the US Army, the then Ordnance Division of the FMC Corporation built two MICVs under the designation XM765. These were based on the proven M113 APC modified to incorporate firing ports and a fully enclosed one-person weapon station.

Although evaluated, the XM765 was nevertheless rejected in favor of the M2 Bradley, but FMC decided to market it anyway for export as a cheap alternative to the Bradley and possible upgrade for its production, resulting in the PI M113A1 in 1970, and after revisions in 1970, came out with the AIFV – armored infantry fighting vehicle.

Four evaluation vehicles were built and eventually were chosen by the Netherlands, placing an order for 880 vehicles in 1975, which was re-designated YPR-765. After modifications, the order was altered to 2,079, of which 815 were to be manufactured locally under license and 1,264 in co-production with FMC.

Design

The hull of the vehicle is made of welded aluminum, with spaced steel laminate armor bolted onto the side and front. The voids of the armor are filled with polyurethane foam, which gives the vehicle extra buoyancy when travelling in the water. Original production AIFV’s can swim without deploying flotation curtains, using only a large front-mounted trim vane; they are propelled in the water by their tracks.

Armament

The turret mounts an Oerlikon Contraves 25 mm KBA-B02 cannon with a dual ammunition feed and 180 rounds of ready use ammo, with another 144 rounds stored in the hull.

Mounted to the left of this gun is a 7.62 mm FN MAG machine gun, which has 230 rounds of ready ammo, with a further 1,610 in the hull. There is a six-barrel smoke discharger mounted at the front, just above the large trim vane.

Specifications

(Source: Wikipedia)