German Wheeled Fighting Vehicles

In 1962, a long series of trials and studies was launched by the Bundesamt fur Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung, BWB (Federal Office of Military Technology and Procurement) to establish the basic principles of the future policy for the next generation of tactical trucks and wheeled armored fighting vehicles. In 1964 the BWB recognized that those vehicles should share a high degree of commonality — to be achieved wherever possible — and the usage of commercial components, emphasizing above all the importance of standardization for a vast range of tactical trucks and the required multi-role wheeled armored vehicles. For the development program, a joint project office (Gemeinschaft-Buro, or GB), which included the five largest truck building companies of that time (Bussing, Henschel, MAN and Klockner-Humbold-Deutz) was formed competing against Daimler Benz (DB), The first manufacturer's trials began in 1967, and in April 1968 the comparative trials of each manufacturer's prototype of the Transportpanzer 1 (6 x 6), Transportpanzer 2 (4 x 4), and the Spahpanzer 2 (8 x 8) were conducted at the WTD 41 proving ground in Trier. In 1969 the development program was changed slightly when the requirement for the Transportpanzer 2 (4 x 4) was dropped. The Transportpanzer 1 (6x6) was to have a payload of 2 tonnes (2.25 tons) and a capability of transporting ten soldiers.

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