Country of Origin: Russia (Soviet Union)

Real World/Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist in real life; it was made up by the good people at GDW. In Merc 2000, the conditions that led to its creation did not exist.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The BMD Weapons Carrier is the same vehicle as the BMD-1 but with the turret removed. Two AGS-17 grenade launchers are on either side of the space where the turret used to be, and two PK machinegun mounts have been fitted, one on the bow firing forward and another on the rear deck firing to the rear. The driver's hatch is still on the front deck, and the place where the turret was is now open-topped.

Country of Origin: Poland

Notes: As of 2006, this is still in pre-production form and not in production or service.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The BMP-40 was a rushed project of the Polish military in 1997 to produce an armored personnel carrier that could be used for a multitude of tasks (air defense, personnel escort, etc.). The basic frame was patterned on the BMP-1, which the Polish military had quantities of to examine and use as a test bed for the BMP-40. The primary cannon was copied from the Swedish CV 9040 vehicle. Because it uses the Swedish 40mm cannon the turret is a larger model than seen on the BMP-1; as such, the overall troop capacity is reduced from 8 to 6. Wartime models were seen with mounts using AGS-17 grenade launchers and/or AT-5 Spandrel ATGM weapons. The Steel Works of Stalow Wola was the primary manufacturer of this design, and allied air bombing of this facility hurt production of the BMP-40. As such only some 70 models are known to have been produced prior to the November nuclear strikes. Some models are reported to have been equipped with lugs for explosive reactive armor (TF, TS, HF, HS), and some have been equipped with appliqué armor similar to that of other BMP models. The ammunition for the 40mm gun was patterned after the 40mm Swedish ammunition, but was often difficult to obtain during the war amidst other Pact vehicles.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Poland

Notes: The BWP-2000 is a heavily armed IFV based on an MT-S tracked prime mover chassis and an Italian-designed turret and an autocannon of Israeli design. The hull and turret are all-welded, with no rivets to pop loose when the vehicle is hit. Lugs for ERA are fitted to the HF, HS, TF, and TS. The driver is at the front left, and the commander and gunner have hatches on the turret roof. Image intensification is provided for the commander, thermal imaging for the gunner, and passive IR for the driver. The commander also has a monitor to his front to see what the gunner sees in his thermal sight. TOW II missiles were obtained from Italy and copied, then fitted to the turret, which is a modified form of the turret mounted on the VCC-80 IFV. The rear of the vehicle has a power ramp with a hatch in it, and there are two large circular hatches in the troop compartment roof. Two firing ports are on each side of the vehicle. As of 2006, there are no plans to actually produce the BWP-2000, primarily due to budgetary reasons and interoperability with Poland's new NATO partners.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Belgium

Notes: This small tracked APC was not adopted by any country, but I included it here as a "what-if." It is similar in concept to carriers such as the M-113, being a "bare box" sort of APC. It does have some interesting features, such as the positions for two drivers in the front hull to help relieve driver fatigue. They both have a bow-mounted machinegun to fire when they are not driving. In addition, there are three launchers on each side of the glacis for Mecar rifle grenades; these are not useable for direct fire, but may be launched in the indirect fire mode. The vehicle has a small turret on top mounting an M-2HB machinegun and twin 101mm rocket launchers. There is a hatch in the roof to the rear of the turret for reloading the rocket launchers. The interior is very cramped, especially when carrying a full complement of infantrymen. The infantrymen enter through a door in the rear of the hull.

Country of Origin: United States

Notes: This is the vehicle featured in the movie Damnation Alley, but there is no real vehicle except for Hollywood wizardry.

Twilight 2000 Notes: Designed for survival in the most hostile of elements, the Landmaster was a limited-production vehicle designed by USAF Missile Command in late 1998 using locally available components. The base chassis is a heavy truck, and the Landmaster uses a unique "trinary" wheel suspension. Each of the axles is connected to a pair of three roadwheel sets, with two of the set touching the ground. As the front-most wheel of the set contacts an insurmountable obstacle, it flips to the rear and over the obstacle, therefore bypassing it. This leads to high off-road speeds for a vehicle of its size, and the ability to overcome a vertical obstacle of over 1 meter in size.

The Landmaster is equipped with a dual control system, much like an airplane cabin. Control of the vehicle may be made by one or both of these controls, depending on the requirements of the terrain and weather. The vehicle is equipped with at least three military and one civilian "CB" radio. The vehicle is equipped with night vision for the forward cabin and the gunner's position. The Landmaster is equipped with both ground surveillance and ground-to-air radar. There is an external video camera and a shotgun microphone, as well as a PA system. The video equipment can use the night vision gear. The vehicle has a complete navigation suite, from simple downloadable computerized maps to inertial navigation and GPS. There are bunks for half the crew to sleep in at once, a small galley, a large refrigerator and freezer, an internal latrine, and a shower, fed by a 400-liter water tank. Also included are a water filtration system for decontaminating and desalinating local water, the equivalent of three doctor's medical bags, and a complete set of tools, including an air compressor and a welding and cutting set.

The Landmaster has a large hatch in the front and rear deck, hatches on either side of the forward cabin, and a large hatch in the rear. The rockets used in the forward rocket launchers are the same as used in the M-67 recoilless rifle, but the rocket launchers are magazine-fed. The weapons can be controlled either from a gunner's position or from the forward cabin.

Notes: This vehicle does not exist in real life. There is in fact going to be (or already is by now) a version of the Bradley known as the M-2A3, but this is not it.  This version was made up by the Twilight 2000 designers at GDW, though I have come up with more back story.

Twilight 2000 Notes: In late 1995, as existing M-2 and M-2A1 Bradleys in US service began to be gathered and replaced by M-2A2s, TACOM fitted the older Bradleys with a new turret and appliqué armor. These modified Bradleys were designated M-2A3, and were then reissued to replace battle losses in Europe, the Middle East, and Korea. However, the lions share of these new variants were issued to units fighting the Mexicans and Russians in the American Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska, due to problems with transporting them to farther locales. In this variant, the standard turret is replaced with one mounting twin Hellfire ATGMs instead of the standard TOW II launchers, one launcher on each side of the turret. Many of these vehicles are also armed with 30mm Bushmaster II or 35mm Bushmaster III autocannons in place of the standard 25mm cannon. Fire control is also improved.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Canada

Notes: The M-113A1 was upgraded in such a manner at the request of the Canadian Army, but it was decided to not go ahead with upgrading the entire M-113A1 fleet.

Twilight 2000 Notes: As an experiment, some Canadian M-113A1s were fitted with the same turret as the LAV-25. When the Twilight War broke out, the prototypes were taken into service as the CM-113A1, and series production was begun. These vehicles were primarily retained in the home defense role, and most were sent to the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Yukon, as well as the Northwest Territories to counter the Russian invasion. These vehicles, like most Canadian LAV-25s, add a MAG for antiaircraft and anti-troop use by the commander's hatch. Since these are modifications of older M-113s, most do not have a wear value of better than 4. The layout is generally similar to the standard M-113, but the large hatch on the rear deck is eliminated, as with the turret mounted, there is no room for it.

Country of Origin: Germany

Notes: This is a German variant of the M-113A1, with a KUKA 607 turret mounting an M-2HB machinegun, a new engine, and a fully automatic transmission and steering yoke. This was an upgrade proposed by FFG in 1997, but few (if any) of these conversions have been done for operational vehicles.

Twilight 2000 Notes: About 150 of these vehicles were available for the Twilight War.  They were an improvement over the standard M-113A1 used by the German Army, but the loss of space inside the vehicle as well as the existence of better APCs meant that few conversions were actually made before the Twilight War.  Though only 150 were available as the Twilight War commenced, another 100 conversions were made during the war.

Merc 2000 Notes: The conversion program was never carried out.

Country of Origin: United States

Notes: This vehicle does not exist in real life; it is an invention of the designers at GDW.  I have come up with a little more back story.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This Armored Cavalry Combat Vehicle is originally a Canadian idea. In the late 1980s, they began, first as an experiment, and then operationally, topping some of their M-113A2s with the same turrets used on LAV-25 wheeled armored personnel carriers. The US Army, especially National Guard formations, borrowed this idea during the Twilight War, using them in place of the shorter-supplied M-3 Bradley Cavalry Vehicles. The turret almost completely takes up the deck of the vehicle.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Israel

Notes: The M-119A1 was originally an Israeli improved version of the M-113 ACCV, and during the war several M-113s were converted to this designation. The vehicle’s turret mounts a 60mm HVMS autocannon to be used in bunker busting and general infantry support operations. The M-119A1 comes standard with an improved RAPI armor system that increases its survivability against heavy machineguns and RPGs. The M-119A1 is often fitted with reactive armor (TF, TS, HF), and may use the M-113s appliqué hull armor. Though technically an APC, it stretches that definition.  This vehicle has been produced in demonstrator form only.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The M-119A1 models deployed to the Middle Eastern theater have earned the nickname "Combat Taxis" by the troops and crews. Some test models have been sent back to the US for analysis.  The vehicle became popular with American troops who liked the increased armor and heavier caliber support weapon.

Marder 1A3/40mm

Country of Origin: Germany

Notes: Developed as an experiment from the standard Marder 1A3, the Marder 1A3/40mm has not been adopted by the Bundeswehr, and probably never will be due to budgetary reasons.

Twilight 2000 Notes: Just before the commencement of the Twilight War, the Germans (amongst may other countries) realized that the rather light autocannons arming most of their IFVs simply weren't going to cut the mustard.  The Germans decided to solve this problem while spending as little as possible -- they up-gunned the standard Marder 1A3 with Bofors 40mm L/70 autocannons traded and bought from the Swedes, and while they were at it, improved the night vision suite.  The result was the Marder 1A3/40mm, (sometimes referred to as the Marder 1A4, though this was a non-official appellation).  The Germans did not have time to bring the new gun's mounting and stabilization up to Marder 1A3 standards, and had to enlarge the turret to fit the Bofors gun, making the 1A3/40mm easily identifiable.  In addition, the extra weight of the new turret and gun do take away from the cargo-carrying capabilities of the vehicle, as well as making the interior a bit more cramped.  The Marder 1A3/40mm was adopted in small numbers, but never enough to satisfy the Bundeswehr, for they were quite effective at protecting their troops and dispensing with most enemy APCs.

Country of Origin: Switzerland

Notes: This is an upgrade of the first Tornado. It features an overhead mount for an autocannon, coaxial machinegun, and missile launcher. The driver is in the front left of the hull with an overhead hatch; the commander has a small hatch in the remote turret. The rear of the hull has a ramp. There are two firing ports in each side of the hull and two in the rear; in addition, there are two remote machineguns on the hull deck at the rear. This vehicle was not adopted by any country, but is still being offered by MOWAG. It is interesting for its heavy armament, and is presented here as a "what-if."

Country of Origin: France

Notes: This medium wheeled APC has only been developed to the prototype stage as of yet. It is a stretched VCR TT 2, with 8 roadwheels and about 25% larger than that vehicle. It is being developed for the requirements of the Polish Army for a new wheeled armored personnel carrier with good cross-country performance, high road speed, and decent firepower. Four turret choices are available, with the 25mm-armed version being the most likely to be adopted. The VCR-2 may also be fitted with a pintle-mounted machinegun. The layout is similar to the standard VCR TT 2, with a door in the center of the hull on each side, a hatch on the front center deck for the driver, and a large door in the rear of the vehicle for the troops. The turret is normally a small turret with no hatch; however, the version with a pintle-mounted machinegun has a hatch in the center top deck, and the 90mm version has a hatch on the turret roof for the commander and gunner. There are three firing ports on each side of the troop compartment.

Twilight/Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Sweden

Notes: As a test, the complete turret of a CV-9040 was mounted on an MT-LB. This was done to quickly and cheaply mechanize infantry units that were foot-mobile or mounted only in trucks or light vehicles. Though the experiment was deemed substantially a success, It was deemed even cheaper to simply place those troops in overhauled MT-LBs for the time being. The Pbv-402 project was therefore put on indefinite hold, and few if any were actually fielded. (I'm not sure if "Pbv-402" is an official designation for this design; I believe that this designation was made up by Antti Hentuu, a person well known to the online Twilight 2000 community as Antenna.)

Twilight 2000 Notes: This vehicle was in limited production before the Twilight War, but was not adopted as a standard until 1999. It is produced by placing the turret of a CV-90 on the hull of an MT-LB APC; often, these turrets were taken from battle-damaged CV-90s with still-functioning turrets. Still more were purposed modified into this standard. The vehicles were used to replace battle losses, but the real CV-90 or even the Pbv-502 was preferred over this vehicle.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Sweden

Notes: The story behind this unusual modification is similar to that of the Pbv-402, including the designation.

Twilight 2000 Notes: In 1997, Sweden bought 350 ex-East German BMP-1 IFVs from Germany. These vehicles were modified and upgraded; the most dramatic of these upgrades was the replacement of the 73mm cannon turret with a turret from the CV-90 IFV. These vehicles were used to mechanize most of the remainder of Sweden's infantry forces. The upgraded vehicles, called Pbv-502s, are similar in appearance to the Polish BMP-40, and also have new engines and transmissions installed to replace the aging power train in the BMP-1s. Though the CV-90 was the preferred vehicle, the Pbv-502 was better than no vehicle at all.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.

Country of Origin: Romania

Real World/Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist in real life; it is a product of the imaginations of the designers of Twilight 2000 at GDW (though I have embellished the story below considerably).

Twilight 2000 Notes: This is the result of Romanian experiments in designing a light APC for scout teams. The TAB-90 is a small vehicle; barely large enough for its crew, and normally less than a full complement of passengers were carried in order to carry more supplies, especially on extended reconnaissance missions. The TAB-90 has an unusually quiet engine, and enemy troops often found the TAB-90 much closer to their positions than they expected it to be, without warning. The exhaust is also filtered so the normal heavy plume of smoke given off by diesel engines is more subdued in the TAB-90. The main fault of the TAB-90, other than its light construction, is its high profile, nearly three meters high; this not only made it easy to spot against the horizon, but also made it vulnerable to tipping on uneven ground. It was, however, a good observation platform. The TAB-90 has a hatch on the front left deck for the driver, two hatches on the turret deck for the gunner and commander, and a door in the rear of the hull for the passengers. In addition, there is a firing port on each side of the hull, and one in the rear door.

Country of Origin: Germany

Notes: This vehicle exists in prototype form only.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This infantry fighting vehicle was designed in the mid-1990s in Germany to replace the Marder. Production began in 1996, but all three production lines were destroyed by late 1997 and as a result the TH-495 did not make much headway in replacing the Marder, equipping only a few front-line battalions. Those that made it to service gave a good accounting of themselves in combat, their heavy caliber autocannons able to destroy and outrange opposing vehicles, and their missiles (usually TOW IIIs) able to take out even main battle tanks. The vehicle is state of the art, able to fire at full speed and with targeting systems normally found on advanced tanks. A few were produced in a shorter version with only 5 roadwheels; however, they were produced only as prototypes, and were sent to combat units only as an emergency measure. Most have 6 roadwheels, and this is the version presented below. A few of these vehicles, perhaps 25 in all, were produced for Malaysia and sent there before ship traffic became scarce.

Country of Origin: France

Notes: The APC version of the Vextra is topped with an upgraded Dragar turret armed with a 25mm autocannon. The driver is on the front left, the one-man turret has a hatch on the roof, and there are four hatches on the rear deck. There is a power ramp in the rear hull for passenger access. A sore point among troops using this vehicle is the lack of firing ports, forcing infantrymen to expose themselves to fire through the deck hatches to return fire.  Though the Vextra 25 is in an advanced testing phase as of 2006, it is already being marketed, but has no buyers as of yet.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This new French APC began production for the French and German armies just prior to the Twilight War. Designed to replace the AMX-10P and VAB in the French Army and the Fuchs and M-113 series in the German Army, fewer than 100 of these vehicles made it to each army before production stopped for the German Army and focused on the French Army. Many of these vehicles were sent to the Middle East, where their ability to keep up with Leclerc and AMX-40 tanks made them valuable.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle got lost in the budget shuffle and was never put into production.

Notes: This vehicle does not exist in real life; it was made up by Frank Frey of GDW.  (I asked Frank about the Ze'ev IFV once, and he told me that in his mind, the turret sort of looks like a Bradley turret without the TOW launcher box, atop a hull that looks sort of like that of the Marder.)

Twilight 2000 Notes: An Israeli built tracked, IFV variant of the Ze'ev Mobile Armored Gun System. The IFV has a remote turret mounted on the center top deck. The commander, driver, and gunner ride in the chassis along with 6 infantrymen. There are two firing ports on each side of the vehicle. There are separate hatches for the commander, driver and gunner on the top deck. There is a powered ramp door with two additional firing ports in the rear hull of the vehicle.

Merc 2000 Notes: This vehicle does not exist.