The Swiss company General Dynamics European Land Systems – MOWAG (GDELS-MOWAG, the Swiss branch of the General Dynamics corporation) has unveiled a new variant of its widely known family of wheeled armored vehicles, Piranha. The Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier (HMC) features a unique 10×10 wheel configuration, which is unusual for modern armored vehicles.
This vehicle is presented as a versatile and powerful platform capable of accommodating a wide range of heavy payloads, including in containerized configurations. Although GDELS-MOWAG does not explicitly state the vehicle’s base, according to Swiss sources, the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier is built on the Piranha IV platform. According to the company’s press release, the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier 10×10 can have a maximum combat weight of up to 40 tons and a payload of up to 17 tons. The vehicle is 9.11 meters long (compared to the 7.24 meters of the Piranha IV 8×8), 2.84 meters wide, and 2.39 meters tall. It features four steerable axles (1, 2, 4, and 5), providing a minimum turning radius of “less than 18 meters” and, overall, as claimed, fully complying with EU regulations for road use.
The Piranha IV, in its basic 8×8 configuration, was first introduced by MOWAG in 2001 but did not find buyers for almost 20 years until it began to be procured for the Swiss Armed Forces in specialized versions – self-propelled mortar and engineering vehicle – starting in 2021.
The introduction of the Piranha IV 10×10 platform variant is associated with its selection as the chassis for the future 155mm/52 self-propelled howitzer for the Swiss Army under the Artillery Wirkplattform und Wirkmittel 2026 program, which involves the procurement of wheeled chassis SPHs to replace the existing 155mm/47 upgraded tracked self-propelled howitzers M109 KAWEST.
In 2022, two final contenders were chosen for this program: the BAE Systems Hägglunds Archer SPH on the RMMV HX2 8×8 chassis and the SPH presented by the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW, now KNDS Germany) with the Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155, also known as AGM) artillery fire module, originally proposed on the Boxer 8×8 or Piranha IV 8×8 chassis. However, it was stated in 2023 that a variation of the RCH 155 installed on the new Piranha IV 10×10 chassis had been submitted to the Swiss Army as part of this initiative. In early 2024, photographs of a prototype of such an SPH undergoing testing appeared. In addition, the Piranha Heavy Mission Carrier 10×10 chassis created as part of this project has been introduced to the market as a distinct offering.
It’s worth noting that in the 1990s, MOWAG previously introduced a variant of the Piranha III armored personnel carrier in a 10×10 configuration. However, these vehicles were delivered in only 13 units in specialized versions (command and control and radar carrier) for the Swedish coastal artillery.
