Swedish CV90s earn high marks from Ukrainian forces for resilience

"Our CV90 showed itself in a positive light. Primarily, and most importantly, it's about the armor and the gun. The armor is very solid, it withstood frontal hits by lances, FPV, and essentially also withstood a 120mm hit in the rear," said the commander of the 21st Mechanized Brigade in a conversation with Army TV.

In social media, comments have appeared suggesting that such an opinion of the Ukrainian soldiers about the CV90 is exaggerated. However, Jarosław Wolski, a defense analyst, noted that "specific Strf9040C i.e., versions armored by the Swedes for missions" (including strengthened armor and improved optics) have arrived in Ukraine. Thanks to this, they are characterized by record resistance, which can be compared to the M2A2 Bradley with BRAT armor.

This is not the first laudatory opinion about Swedish equipment coming from this analyst. Previously, he described the Stridsvagn 122 as "the best and most armored tanks Ukraine has" in an article. A deep modernization of the German Leopard 2A5s was equipped with strengthened roof and side hulls and more durable fuel tanks.

In the context of the CV90 armored infantry vehicles, Ukrainian soldiers also highly rate the dedicated Barracuda camouflage for them. The solution developed by the Saab group aims to reduce the thermal signature of the camouflaged vehicle. As a result, it becomes significantly harder to detect by enemy observation means.

"It protects the vehicle against night vision and thermal cameras. It makes it about 70 percent less visible than any other vehicle," said the commander of a Ukrainian crew.

The offensive capabilities in the CV90s sent to Ukraine are provided by a turret equipped with a Bofors 40 mm cannon. Engines with a power of 407 kW (by Scania) allow these vehicles to accelerate up to nearly 70 km/h (approximately 43 mph).

Russians are aware that the CV90s are one of the most modern armored vehicles the West has provided to Ukraine. There have even been reports that they specifically hunt for Swedish machines, and if they manage to capture a specimen, they proclaim it a great success.

So far, about 50 units of the CV9040C have arrived in Ukraine. At the beginning of this year, Kyiv expressed interest in acquiring up to 1,000 additional pieces.