SIBMAS

SIBMAS
SIBMAS AFSV-90 at the Malaysian Army Museum, Port Dickson.
Type	Infantry fighting vehicle
Place of origin	Belgium
Service history
Used by	See Operator
Wars	Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–89)
Production history
Designer	Büssing
Designed	1971 (initial prototype) 1975 (SIBMAS)
Manufacturer	BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Metalliques
Produced	1981 – 1985
Number built	186
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Weight	16.5 tonnes (18.2 short tons; 16.2 long tons)
Length	7.32 m (24 ft 0 in)
Width	2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Height	2.24 m (7 ft 4 in) (hull)
Crew	3 (commander, driver, gunner) + 11 passengers
Main armament	90mm Cockerill Mk.III
Secondary armament	7.62 mm coaxial machine gun
Engine	MAN Diesel D 2566 MK six-cylinder water-cooled diesel 320 hp (205 kW) at 1,900 rpm
Power/weight	20 hp/tonne (14.9 kW/tonne)
Ground clearance	0.4m
Fuel capacity	400 litres
Operational range	1,000 km
Speed	100 km/h

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.

Following trials with a number of prototypes, a subsidiary of the Büssing company in 1971 commenced the development of the Ratel infantry fighting vehicle to meet the requirements of the South African Army. After evaluating several alternatives, including the EE-11 Urutu, Thyssen Henschel UR-416, and the Panhard M3, South Africa purchased the rights to Büssing's final prototype, then identified as the "Springfield-Büssing Buffel". Büssing subsequently sold the same design to Belgium. The SIBMAS was still in the pre-production stage just as Ratel entered serial production. However, the obvious similarities between the two vehicles led some analysts to erroneously conclude their production was directly linked, and one was a licensed variant of the other.

Belgian engineers had completed a single SIBMAS demonstrator by the end of 1976 and proceeded to trial the vehicle in both Belgium and Malaysia. It was announced that production would not commence until a domestic or export order was finalised. Two amphibious demonstrators were later built, 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. The base model was armed with a 90mm Cockerill main gun, the same as that fitted to the EE-9 Cascavel as well as late production models of the Cadillac Gage V-150 Commando and FV101 Scorpion; this was designated Armoured Fire Support Vehicle 90, or simply "AFSV-90".