The

MOWAG Mowag is a Swiss company founded in 1950, which develops, designs and produces armoured fighting vehicles for military applications in both land-only and amphibious configurations. These vehicles have gross vehicle weights ranging from 9 tonn ...

MR 8 (

WOTAN (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compos ...

) is a border force and police

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

. It was developed by

Mowag Mowag is a Swiss company founded in 1950, which develops, designs and produces armoured fighting vehicles for military applications in both land-only and amphibious configurations. These vehicles have gross vehicle weights ranging from 9 tonn ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and built under licence in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

History

The WOTAN was introduced in 1963 in

(Federal Republic of Germany) as a Special Vehicle (''Sonderwagen'') in versions SW1 and SW2 for the Federal Border Guard (''

Bundesgrenzschutz Bundesgrenzschutz (; abbreviation: BGS; ) is the former name of the German ''Bundespolizei'' (Federal Police). Established on 16 March 1951 as a subordinate agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the BGS originally was primarily focu ...

'') and the Readiness (Riot) Police (''

Bereitschaftspolizei The ''Bereitschaftspolizei'' (literally 'Readiness Police'/On-Call Police (Reserve); effectively riot police), abbreviated BePo, are the support and rapid reaction units of Germany's police forces. They are composed of detachments from the Fe ...

'') of the

German states The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

. The special vehicle SW1 had no armament of its own and featured an unusual split-open observation turret-hatch (

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

), whereas the special vehicle SW2 came in two versions featuring a one-man 360° rotating turret: SW2a with a Hispano-Suiza HS.820 autocannon, later upgraded to a

Rheinmetall Mk 20 Rh-202 The Rheinmetall Mk 20 Rh-202 (short for ''Maschinenkanone 20 mm Rheinmetall'') is a 20 mm caliber autocannon designed and produced by Rheinmetall. It fires the 20×139mm ammunition originally developed for the Hispano-Suiza HS.820. The cann ...

300-round

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

(carrying 200 HE and 100 AP rounds), and SW2b with a 500-round dismountable

MG 3 machine gun The MG 3 is a German general-purpose machine gun chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The weapon's design is derived from the World War II era MG 42 that fired the 7.92×57mm Mauser round. The MG 3 was standardized in the late 1950s ...

. Additionally, the SW2 had three

smoke grenade A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone marking device, or as a screening device for unit movements. Smoke grenades are generally more complex and emit a far larger amount of smoke than sm ...

launchers on each side of the turret. Both the SW1 and SW2 versions featured roof-mounted Bosch RKLE 90 or Hella KLJ 60 blue police light beacons. The Federal Border Guard referred to the SW1 and SW2, also as Kfz 91 and Kfz 92, respectively Kfz stands for ''Kraftfahrzeug'', meaning motor vehicle. MOWAG delivered the first 20 special vehicles, and around 600–700 were built under license by

Büssing Büssing AG was a German bus and truck manufacturer, established in 1903 by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) in Braunschweig. It quickly evolved to one of the largest European producers, whose utility vehicles with the Brunswick Lion emblem were w ...

and

Henschel Henschel & Son () was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons. Georg C ...

in West Germany, with the armoured chassis supplied by

Blohm+Voss Blohm is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Hans Blohm C.M. (born 1927), photographer and author *Hermann Blohm (1848–1930), German businessman and co-founder of German company Blohm+Voss *Irma Blohm (1909–1997), German politi ...

. Other variants were built, such as a mortar launching vehicle, but these found no buyers. A WOTAN prototype, which was tested by the German Federal Border Guard, is now in the Swiss Military Museum.Militärmuseum Full SwitzerlandMarcus Bauer, Nutzfahrzeuge der MOWAG Motorwagenfabrik AG, Fachpresse Goldach, Hudson & Company, 1996 An amphibious version was marketed as the Mowag Grenadier. The MOWAG MR 8 was replaced from 1983 by the

Thyssen-Henschel Thyssen Henschel was a German industrial firm and defense contractor. One part of the company '' Henschel Wehrtechnik'' was acquired by Rheinmetall in 1999 and was integrated into ''Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH'' in 2000. Products * TAM medium ...

TM-170 The TM-170 is an armoured personnel carrier was announced for the first time in 1978 and entered production in 1979. It was originally designed primarily for use as an APC or an internal security vehicle, but could be adapted for a wide range of ...

armoured personnel carrier.

Design

The

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

(4×4) vehicle had a small turning radius and was equipped with 2-axle steering. The arrangement of the engine installed in the rear left allowed the crew to park the vehicle and exit from the side and rear.

Variants

* MR 8 "SW1": also known as Kfz91. Armoured personnel carrier with a small observation turret-hatch (

) and no integral weapon. The turret hatch is split down the centre, allowing it to open vertically, in each half there are three vision blocks. Crew: 7; commander (right-hand side), driver (left-hand side), and five equipped infantry personnel in the rear compartment. * MR 8 "SW2a": also known as Kfz92. Armoured personnel carrier with a one-man 360° rotating turret, initially equipped with a Hispano-Suiza HS.820 autocannon, later upgraded to a

300-round

, and three smoke grenade launchers on each side of the turret. Crew: 4; commander (right-hand side), driver (left-hand side), and two equipped infantry personnel in the rear compartment. * MR 8 "SW2b": also known as Kfz92. Armoured personnel carrier equipped with a 500-round dismountable

and three smoke grenade launchers on each side of the turret. Crew: 4; commander (right-hand side), driver (left-hand side), and two equipped infantry personnel in the rear compartment. **MR 8-09: 20 mm

upgrade. **MR 8-20: unguided rocket and ATGM variant, with provision for twin 8 cm unguided missile launchers. **MR 8-23: heavy fire support and tank hunter vehicle with 90 mm medium-pressure gun and 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and two-man turret. **MR 9-32: 120 mm mortar carrier.

Gallery

File:Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F010413-0001,_Lübeck,_Jubiläum_BGS,_Parade.jpg, 10th anniversary of the Federal Border Guard (BGS, ''Bundesgrenzschutz'') in SW1 armoured personnel carries; parade in the presence of Federal Minister of the Interior

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

and BGS Brigadier General Alfred Samlowski,

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, May 1961. File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F045459-0003, Bonn, Bewachung des Bundeskanzleramts.jpg, SW1 armoured personnel carrier of the Federal Border Guard (BGS, ''Bundesgrenzschutz'') guarding the Federal Chancellery ("

Palais Schaumburg Palais Schaumburg is a neoclassical-style building in Bonn, Germany, which served as the primary official seat of the German Federal Chancellery and the primary official residence of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from ...

"),

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, May 1975. File:ReForGer 86 in Nurnberg, West Germany 1986.jpg, SW1 armoured personnel carriers of the Federal Border Guard (BGS, ''Bundesgrenzschutz'') taking part in

Exercise Reforger Exercise Campaign Reforger ("return of forces to Germany") was an annual military exercise and campaign conducted by NATO during the Cold War. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West German ...

, West Germany, 1986.

References

{{Modern IFV and APC Wheeled armoured fighting vehicles Armoured fighting vehicles of Switzerland Internal security vehicles Police vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s Wheeled armoured personnel carriers Wheeled amphibious armoured fighting vehicles Armoured personnel carriers of the Cold War