A13 Abawen

A13 Abawen
Standard APC variant of the Abawen
Type	Infantry mobility vehicle
Place of origin	Charnea
Service history
In service	2013 - Present
Used by	Charnean Army
Wars	Fahrani Civil War
Production history
Designed	2012
Manufacturer	Ikyan Corporation
Produced	2013-Present
No. built	400
Specifications
Weight	6 tonnes
Length	5.5 m (18 ft 1 in)
Width	2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Height	2.3 m (7 ft 7 in)
Crew	3 (+8 passengers)
Armor	14mm steel alloy 16mm ballistic glass (windshield)
Main armament	12.7×108mm heavy machinegun
Engine	4-cylinder deisel engine 195 hp (145 kW)
Operational range	750 km (470 mi) up to 1,750 km (1,090 mi) (2-4 added tanks)
Speed	125 km/h (78 mph)

The A13 Abawen (Tamashek: ⴰ13 ⴰⴱⴰⵓⴻⵏ) is a Charnean armored car manufactured by the Ikyan Corporation from its primary facility in Ekelhoc. It is primarily found in the service of the Charnean Army as a reconnaissance and infantry mobility vehicle, armored personnel carrier and combat ambulance. The Abawen was intended to fill the role of a light, fast and long ranged four wheeled armored vehicle which had previously been filled by A45 Torka which had been maintained long past its planned service life due to disruptions and delays to the development of a suitable replacement. Due to its speed and range, the Abawen is particularly well suited to long distance patrols and reconnaissance missions and is used mainly by the Army's border guard and policing units. An unarmored variant known as the Abawen-M is planned to be fully adopted as the main general utility vehicle of all Army units by 2030. The namesake of the vehicle is the abawen Ninvite sand cat known to inhabit the deep desert far from water sources, relating to the intention of the A13 to travel deep into the desert far from supporting infrastructure.

Armament

The primary armament of the Abawen is a 12.7×108mm heavy machinegun fitted to a rooftop mounting with a 360° range of motion with -5° of depression and +70° of elevation. The improved elevation of the machine-gun mounting serves primarily to engage aircraft, particularly rotorcraft and low-speed fixed-wing aircraft. The mounting is suitable to replace the 12.7mm machinegun with an automatic 30mm grenade launcher. This modification is intended to make the Abawen more suitable in fighting entrenched infantry positions, particularly in an urban setting, which falls outside the typical mission profile of the vehicle and is consequently rarely used. The anti-vehicle Abawen-T variant is fitted with a fully automated remotely operated turret assembly in place of the manned rooftop mounting, fitted with two ATGM launchers. This variant has no capability to reload this weapon outside of dismounting the crew and carries no other armament, and is also fitted with the standard Abawen armor protection which is inadequate for stopping heavy machinegun rounds and autocannon fire. This makes the Abawen-T suitable only only for rapid shoot-and-scoot ambush attacks against armored vehicles, as it is unable to survive return fire or engage in protracted pitched battles. For this reason, it is considered an auxiliary anti-tank vehicle and is not planned to be used as front-line tank hunter.

Protection

The armor protection against direct fire and shrapnel installed on the Abawen is designed to afford the vehicle protection during skirmishes with opposing infantry lacking heavy weapons or fighting vehicles or else transporting personnel behind the front line as a utility vehicle or combat ambulance where the primary threat is artillery fragments. Heavier armor fit to protect against heavy weapons was proposed but rejected early in the design process, as the added weight would severely impede the superior speed and range of the vehicle. The metal hull is constructed from 14mm of a face-hardened steel alloy primarily designed to stop small arms fire of 7.62mm diameter and lower, as well as fragments of artillery shells detonating at least 20 meters away from the vehicle. The ballistic glass has a similar protection rating, although it is more vulnerable to rifle caliber armor piercing rounds. The armor is inadequate to stop 12.7mm rounds fired from heavy machineguns and anti-tank rifles except at ranges exceeding 500 meters.

The underbelly hull is built in a convex rounded shape to deflect the blast of mines and IEDs outward to protect the crew compartment. Standard production Abawens are fitted with mountings for additional armor plating to be added to the underside of the vehicle in response to Charnean experiences with powerful underbelly bombs buried in the road during the insurgent uprisings of the 2000s. The internal compartment itself is protected from biological, chemical and radiological threats by airtight seals and a series of air filtration and aerosol capture systems used to purify outside air. The air filtering system is designed to force clean air into the safe compartment to create an overpressure condition in which the pressure inside the crew compartment is always higher than the outside in order to maintain a safe environment even in the case of a leak or small breach in the hull. The forced air circulation system is also used to facilitate cooling of the crew compartment to reduce the effects of the desert heat on the occupants.