The SIBMAS is a Belgian amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. It was engineered from the same prototype as the South African Ratel. In appearance the vehicle is also similar to the Chinese WZ-523 armoured personnel carrier. The SIBMAS was developed between 1975 and 1976 at a department of the BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Metalliques in Nivelles. Production was on an order-by-order basis and commenced only for the Malaysian Army.
It is due to be replaced completely under the Next Generation Wheeled Armoured Vehicle project.
Development history
During the early 1970s, the South African Defence Force issued a requirement for a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) capable of deploying troops rapidly across the vast expanses of southern Africa. IFVs such as the Soviet BMP-1 and West German Marder had traditionally been tracked; wheeled designs were generally rejected because they lacked the same weight-carrying capacity and off-road mobility of their tracked counterparts. However, South African military strategists favoured a wheeled design for logistical reasons, as it reduced maintenance costs and simplified field repairs. Excessive track wear was also an issue in the region's abrasive, sandy terrain, making a wheeled configuration for an IFV more attractive. The only other requirements were that the South African IFV was to be capable of mounting a two-man turret system. In March 1972, a prototype known as the Springfield-Büssing Buffel was completed and evaluated in trials in the Namib Desert. The Springfield-Büssing Buffel was a six-wheeled design which was engineered by a South African subsidiary of Büssing. It incorporated a boatlike hull with a sharply sloped frontal glacis plate, similar to the EE-11 Urutu, and was built on a commercial MAN truck chassis. The prototype was later altered with a front hull and driving compartment directly inspired by the Berliet VXB-170; in this form it was accepted for service as the Ratel.
While the Ratel was still under development, a Belgian defence contractor, BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Metalliques became interested in developing a multi-role, wheeled armoured vehicle for the export market. The company had prior experience producing armoured vehicles under licence during the early stages of World War II and the immediate postwar era, when it was known as SA La Brugeoise et Nivelles. By 1974, it had consolidated its research and development of new armoured vehicles into a new division, the Société Industrielle Belge de Matériel Automobile Spécial (SIBMAS). The SIBMAS division was tasked with creating a wheeled armoured vehicle capable of transporting between 9 and 16 mounted infantrymen. It was always intended as more than a simple armoured personnel carrier (APC) or IFV, however. The parent firm wanted the SIBMAS series to include a family of supporting vehicles built on the same chassis and hull to simplify logistics for potential export clients. The SIBMAS prototype had to be capable of fulfilling at least four requirements, one for a general APC, one for a turreted IFV, one for a dedicated fire support vehicle, and one for an internal security vehicle to be used for riot control.
In 1975, the SIBMAS division negotiated the rights to the original Springfield-Büssing Buffel prototype from Büssing, including the study which had resulted in its development. Work on an improved derivative began that year and had been completed by the end of 1976. In terms of external design, the new prototype was identical to the Ratel, but possessed a lighter, watertight hull and could be modified for amphibious purposes. The vehicle was simply identified by the anagram of its parent division. Initial trials were carried out that year in Belgium, and later in Malaysia and the Philippines, to test mechanical performance in tropical climates. It was announced that serial production would not commence until an export order was finalised to create the economy of scale necessary to justify production costs. Two fully amphibious demonstrators were built between 1976 and 1979, one which was propelled through water by its wheels at a speed of 5 km/h and a second with twin swivel-mounted propellers which could reach speeds of 10 km/h.