Ukrainian Defense Ministry's official media Army TV has gone to the frontline to see the CV9040 infantry fighting vehicle in action and talk to its operators, servicemen of the 21st Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces. The troops describe their overall experience working with this weapon as positive and note how it often becomes a priority target for the russian invasion forces.
Interestingly, the multiple Ukrainian soldiers in the video praise the Barracuda multispectral camouflage. "It protects the vehicle from night vision devices, thermal imagers. Makes it some 70% less visible than any other vehicle. On the inside, covers from the heat, and on the top, it hides visually from the human eye. It helps a lot," says the crew commander, call sign Toreto.
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"Our CV90 has shown itself in a positive light. First of all and most importantly, the armor and the gun. The armor is very robust, it withstood the frontal [hits by] Lancets, FPVs, and when a 120mm hit in the "a*s," it withstood, basically. The crew, although concussed, worked just as well on their own, fired at the target and fell back," says the deputy battalion commander of the 21st Brigade, call sign Drone.
The Ukrainian forces also use their CV90s as armored recovery vehicles. A commander of one such crew, Vladyslav, said in the video:
"Very convenient, comfortable. Energetic, maneuverable. What can I say — we tow IFVs, APCs. Now, we are going for a Bulldog (another name for an FV432 armored personnel carrier - Defense Express) — a caterpillar fell off. It's like that almost every day. You feel protected in it, good armor. It's warm, it has air conditioning, a radio."
"Ever since the summer, they've been hunting these CVs a lot. Because they cannot reach them with anything, they did not hesitate to send out two T-90s to get just one CV. At the beginning, as we heard from interceptions, they confused them with tanks very often. Spent two Grad salvos per CV. The 120mm mortars, artillery — everything is firing at just one "box." Because they understand: if it reaches its [firing] point and starts working, then they will immediately have 200s and 300s (deceased and wounded - ed.)" says deputy commander Drone, and continues:
"That's how we work: close the distance to 50 meters, take them apart, and while they collect themselves, we fall back. And we do so several times."
Earlier, Defense Express reported that Sweden decided to donate additional CV90 vehicles to Ukraine, moreover, they will be of the latest version and their supply to Kyiv will be prioritized over other customers. Also, Ukraine is preparing grounds for starting local production of this series of combat vehicles, in cooperation with Sweden.
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