MX1-KALAKIAN

Headquarters, Light Armor Brigade, Philippine Army, Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac presents MX1-KALAKIAN.

The Light Armor Brigade, PA is an equipment and maintenance heavy unit which requires quite a considerable amount of fund to support the operational requirements of its armored vehicles. This is the reality because of the fact that our fighting vehicles and their spare parts are mostly imported with the cost continually soaring depending on the strength of the peso to the dollar.

LABde in its desire to beef up its existing ageing equipment to better perform its mandate ventured into the prototype project.

To attain the ambitious project, the Steel Craft Industries incorporated headed by Mr Tony Yu was contracted for the purpose. The company has the necessary equipments and skilled craftsmen to undertake the prototype. A MOA was entered into by LABde represented by BGEN CABUAY Jr AFP, J7 and Mr Tony Yu which included among other things the financing and fabrication of the armored fighting vehicle by Steel Craft Industries while mechanics of LABde headed by SMS DULDULAO will be providing the technical and design assistance.

The prototype armored fighting vehicle is powered with a Cummins 6 cylinder 250 HP In-Line engine with an Allison 4x 4 transmission. The tank capacity is 300 liters diesel fuel. Basic weight is, loaded with armaments and ammunition is 10,582 Kgs. The hull is made of imported 12mm thick armor plating, the same thickness as that of the Simba AFV. It can run as fast as 100 kilometers per hour.

The prototypes mounted with a one man - three weapon turret system equipped with a 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL), a .50 caliber MG and a 7.62mm Machine gun. It has another 7.62mm LMG at the rear.

To protect the gunner and for better target acquisition, the AGL was fitted inside the turret. This is an improvement of the present system wherein the AGL is mounted on top of the turret forcing the gunner to expose his body while firing making him vulnerable to enemy fires.

To suit the tactical needs of our troops for faster mounting and dismounting, a variation was made from the usual two-door configuration of our present armored vehicles. The prototype has two (2) side doors and one (1) rear door. It can accommodate up to twelve (12) combat equipped dismounts that could be inserted in an engagement area.

This project hopefully, will mean millions of savings for the government as it only costs P 8 Million Pesos excluding the armaments. Moreover, most of the prototype's parts are commercially available at the local market.

This was undertaken to show that we do not have to be fully dependent on foreign companies and that the Filipino, with talents and skills is capable its own armored fighting vehicle.